Tanjug reporter: Claims by Pristina's police I was allowed to enter Kosovo-Metohija untrue

BELGRADE - Tanjug reporter Andjelko Utjesanovic, who was on Wednesday denied entry to Kosovo-Metohija, says claims by the so-called Kosovo Police that he was allowed to enter the territory are untrue.

In a statement for the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) website, Utjesanovic said a refusal letter and an email sent by the Pristina government to the Serbian Orthodox Church to inform it that he had been banned from entering were proof of this.

He noted that a church delegation with which he had set off for Kosovo-Metohija had been notified of the ban about ten minutes before they had arrived at the Merdare administrative crossing.

"The church received an email from the Pristina government stating that I was not allowed to enter Kosovo-Metohija, and the information also reached the delegation. Even though the information was conveyed to me, I wanted to go to the crossing and try to enter," Utjesanovic said.

Upon arriving at the crossing, he was handed a refusal letter that stated no reasons for the ban.

"When they made me go back and ordered me to get out of the car, I requested an explanation as to why I could not enter. They asked if I needed a paper as a confirmation of that, and I told them to give it to me so that I could see what the explanation was. He (a 'Kosovo Police' officer) went to the booth at the administrative crossing and brought a refusal letter to me. The refusal letter does not state why I was not allowed to enter Kosovo-Metohija," Utjesanovic said.

He said the ban was a form of provocation and an attempt of reducing media coverage of upcoming Orthodox Christmas celebrations at the Patriarchate of Pec.

"They wanted to silence the coverage of the patriarch's visit because they knew it would be one of the central topics. We (Tanjug) were the only media crew that was a part of the delegation, and they wanted the public in central Serbia to receive as little information as possible. Had they let me through, I would be sending minute-by-minute information to the agency," he said.

Utjesanovic noted that he saw no logical reason for the ban as he had aimed to report on Christmas celebrations in Kosovo-Metohija, not conflicts.

He said he had reported from Kosovo-Metohija countless times in the past and that there had never been any problems.