The Environmental Inspectorate in Kosovo started on Tuesday the demolition of buildings near Lake Ujman, an area located in the northern municipality inhabited by a majority of Serbs, Zubin Potok. According to the Public Hydroeconomic Enterprise “Ibër-Lepenc”, the operation came after the warning issued on July 3 to 11 people who had built apartments and other facilities on its property, asking them to vacate the buildings by the 17th of this month.
But the residents, mostly Serbs, claim that the buildings were erected on land that they had taken into use in 2006 from the Serbian company “Srbija Shume”, to which they had paid rent. The action supported by the Kosovo Police in the north of the country was criticized by the European Union Office in Pristina and the German embassy, which requested the suspension of the action.
The EU office said that the regular legal procedures were not respected for the demolition of the houses in Ujman. According to her, Tuesday’s action was taken at a time when the residents had started court proceedings within the 15-day deadline, defined in the announcements of the public enterprise “Ibër-Lepenc”, so she called on the authorities to cooperate with the residents and affected municipalities and find legal solutions, adding that she expects Kosovo to address these concerns urgently and similar acts not to happen again, in accordance with the European way.
“The EU is concerned about the lack of respect for the regular legal procedure in this and in some other recent cases in the north of Kosovo since February of this year,” its statement says. The area in Lake Ujman is considered a strategic infrastructure for Kosovo, as it serves for water supply, electricity production and irrigation.
