Kosovo Serb arrested at Jarinje released from detention

PRISTINA - Kosovo Serb Miljan Jovanovic, who was arrested at the Jarinje administrative crossing on Tuesday evening, has been released from detention, his wife confirmed on Wednesday.

"He called me about half an hour ago to tell me he is on his way home from Pristina. I have no details on whether he has finally been cleared of any suspicion of wrongdoing, but hopefully that is the case. His lawyer called me, too, and confirmed that Miljan has been released," Suzana Jovanovic said in a statement to Tanjug.

Pristina's police has said Jovanovic, identified by the initials M J, had been arrested on suspicion of three criminal offences.

Suzana Jovanovic said her husband had been mistaken for a man with a similar name and family name.

Jovanovic, a former Kosovo police officer, was arrested as he, his wife and their two underage children were returning home from Raska, central Serbia.

Together with all other Serb police officers in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, Jovanovic left the Kosovo police on November 5, 2022.

After his release, the police said he had been arrested by mistake.

In a reaction to the incident, the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said the case clearly showed Kosovo Serbs were being "arrested without evidence, manhandled in front of their family members and held in detention without grounds."

"The sole objective of arrests like these is to criminalise Serbs, especially those in the north of Kosovo-Metohija," Petkovic wrote in a Twitter post.