June 22, 2006

KiM Info Newsletter 22-06-06

N. Singh: Dragan Popovic from Klina killed with a gun

KIM Radio, Caglavica, June 21, 2006
www.kimradio.net

Sixty-eight year-old Dragan Popovic from Klina who was found dead yesterday in his apartment was killed with a gun, said UNMIK spokesman Neeraj Singh at a press conference today.

"Yesterday at approximately 9:45 a.m. a neighbor visited Popovic's house and upon opening the entrance door saw the victim lying on the floor, after which he informed police. The police went to the scene of the incident and confirmed that the victim had died of gunshot wounds," said Singh. He said that an autopsy was in progress and that the case was being investigated by Kosovo Police Service officers from the section for major crimes in cooperation with international investigators and investigators from headquarters.

The murdered Dragan Popovic lived alone and was one of some 50 Serbs who returned last year to Klina.

S. Doncic: Autopsy of the body of Dragan Popovic conducted in Orahovac

KIM Radio, Caglavica, June 21, 2006
www.kimradio.net

Kosovo Police Service spokesman for the Pristina region Veton Elsani did not wish to speculate regarding the causes of the death of Dragan Popovic and said that he did not have information that the autopsy had been completed.

However Klina municipality coordinator Stojan Doncic told KIM Radio that the autopsy of 68 year-old Dragan Popovic was conducted in Orahovac. "The autopsy confirmed that Popovic was murdered with a gun," said Doncic.

He said that a protest gathering of Serb returnees is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. today in the village of Drsnik. Serbs will demand that KFOR and the international community make it possible for them to live a normal life and provide greater security.

Coordinating Center: Popovic's murder a message

Belgrade, June 21, 2006 (Tanjug news agency, Belgrade)

The Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija assessed to today that the murder of returnee Dragan Popovic from Klina is "a murder with the same message the Albanians have been sending to the Serbs for years", which the outgoing UNMIK chief does not see or does not wish to see.

"Not only does outgoing UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen not see or does not wish to see these messages but he cunningly twists them in his foggy explanations, in the hope of blurring the vision of the UN Security Council, the international community and the public," reads a statement. It points out that Petersen refuses to admit that death, violence and terrorism are an integral part of Kosovo and Metohija reality, reporting instead that there has been improvement in respect for standards in Kosovo and Metohija.

"Less than five percent of Serbs have returned to Kosovo and Metohija because they fear for their lives, while Petersen is telling the Security Council about the psychological condition of Serbs who 'think' or 'feel' they are unsafe.

"Unfortunately, in real life Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are shot. Partially, of course, this is due to the fact that Petersen is blind," says the statement.

After murder Serb returnees in Klina contemplate leaving

June 21, 2006 4:38 p.m., Beta news agency, Belgrade

Gracanica - After yesterday's murder of Dragan Popovic in Klina, Serbs who returned there are thinking of leaving again.

According to our information, the final decision will be made at a meeting at 5:00 p.m. when locals will meet with representatives of UNMIK and KFOR. UNMIK spokesman Neeraj Singh confirmed that Dragan Popovic was found dead in his house in Klina.

At the meeting currently in progress local residents of Klina will ask UNMIK and KFOR for an explanation for Popovic's murder, whether international forces are on the trail of the perpetrators and where the investigation is at. This was confirmed by the former head of the Pec district and one of the residents of Klina municipality, Milivoje Ribac: "We will ask for more guarantees with respect to security for survival in this region. We will ask for KFOR security checkpoints in all villages to be manned around the clock, which would at least lend some hope in security for survival."

Ribac said that the present situation in Klina is difficult and that if KFOR and UNMIK fail to react positively to Serb demands, the consequences could be serious: "If all this does not come to pass, we are seriously contemplating the withdrawal of the entire population of these five or six villages to central Serbia because we are presently living in terrible fear, uncertainty and insecurity to the point where people are panicking."

UNMIK explained that [the murdered Popovic] was a Serb who returned to his native village after six years. UNMIK sources say that it is apparent that the victim was shot but other details of the investigation will be provided after the results of the autopsy. Popovic was one of some 50 Serbs who returned to Klina in the middle of last year.

Killed with a gun

In the meanwhile, UNMIK has advised that 68 year-old Dragan Popovic was shot. Spokesman Neeraj Singh also said that the autopsy of Popovic's body was in process, and that the case was being investigated by officers from the Kosovo Police Service's section for major crimes in cooperation with international investigators and investigators from headquarters. On the other hand, municipal coordinator Stojan Doncic told KIM Radio that the autopsy of the body was conducted in Orahovac, and that Popovic was killed with a gun.

The murder of Dragan Popovic was publicized only hours after a Security Council meeting in New York where outgoing UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen assessed that progress had been made in Kosovo and that the most recent incidents were isolated events. In addition to the Coordinating Center, which criticized Soren Jessen-Petersen saying that the only progress made was in crimes that had taken place, Randjel Nojkic, representative of the Serb List for Kosovo and Metohija, was also critical: "In practice we see that the rights and interests of communities are still endangered, that there is still no freedom of movement, and the murder [that occurred] speaks volumes and illustrates the extent of freedom. Consequently, at this moment no one can speak about any sort of progress since what is occurring is the instrumentalization of a system of achieving goals that is based on violence."

LEPOSAVIC, June 21, 2006 (Beta news agency, Belgrade)

An unknown person has tossed an explosive device at an Interturs bus owned by Nebojsa Radojcic from Leposavic. No one was injured.

Material damage resulted from the explosion that occurred last night at 2:00 a.m. when a hand grenade was lobbed at the bus. Members of the Kosovo police have carried out an investigation but did not advise of details.

Leposavic is inhabited primarily by Serbs and the garage where the bus was parked is located next to the main highway between Kosovska Mitrovica and Raska.

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