Serbia holds 300 Kosovo citizens hostage

(Patria) - Since late Tuesday night into Wednesday, hundreds of Kosovo citizens have been stranded in Serbia, at the border crossing with Croatia, several Kosovo citizens and the Kosovo Liaison Office in Serbia announced.

Fatmir Haxholli from this office stated that this happened in retaliation for the vote of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for Kosovo's membership in this institution.

"In retaliation and absurd nervousness over the vote of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in this international institution, Serbian border authorities, at the Batrovci crossing, Serbia – Croatia, have been blocking at least four buses with license plates and passengers, citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, since midnight," Haxholli wrote on Facebook.

He, as well as the stranded citizens, confirmed that Serbian authorities had taken their passports and documents and detained them.

"Blocking more than 300 citizens, confiscating passports and travel documents, is a flagrant violation not only of the Brussels agreements but also of universal human rights guaranteed by all international conventions. Only the most authoritarian regimes block passengers from another country, under the pretext 'this is an order from Belgrade'," Haxholli added.

He emphasized that his office is closely monitoring the situation and is ready to travel to the Batrovci crossing to be near the citizens.

According to one of the stranded citizens, more than 15 buses have been stopped.

In a live broadcast on KTV, on the show "Danas", a citizen stranded at the border said that the Serbian police did not behave badly towards them, but they were told that they could not do anything without orders from Belgrade.

"We have been held hostage in the neutral zone since 10:30 PM. They took our personal documents and placed us in the neutral zone, at the crossing with Croatia. There is no explanation as to why, nor any objections. Other than telling us to wait. We haven't been able to contact anyone. Only citizens with Kosovo documents are blocked. The police entered the bus and took all our documents. More than 1,000 passengers are held hostage," said this citizen.