KOSOVO PROPERTY DECISION LEGALIZES ETHNIC CLEANSING OF SERBS - SERBIAN OFFICIAL
BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 5, 2007, Sunday

Text of report in English by Belgrade-based Radio B92 text website on 5 August

Belgrade, 5 August: UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] chief Joachim Ruecker has decided to temporarily put on hold the return of property in Kosovo.

The decree 2007/41, halting the process, was passed on 2 August. It suspends decree 2006/50 from October last year, pertaining to return of private property.

Serbia's state secretary with the Ministry for Kosovo, Dusan Prorokovic, said the decision was "one of the most scandalous in the eight-year history of UNMIK".

"It awards usurpers, and punished over 25,000 Serb families that applied for the return of their property," Prorokovic told Beta.

He added Ruecker's decision made impossible for any return of the non-Albanian residents to the province, and legalized the results of ethnic cleansing of July 1999 and March 2004.

"We need to react to this using diplomatic and political means, but we must also examine the possibility of filing a lawsuit against Joachim Ruecker with domestic and international courts," Prorokovic said, and added such acts were not protected by diplomatic immunity.

Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo president Milan Ivanovic told the agency the decree was illegal and directed against vital Serb interests.

"The decision puts Ruecker on the side of [ethnic] Albanian usurpers of Serb property, prejudices the future status of Kosovo and stands against Resolution 1244," Ivanovic said.

Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0918 gmt 5 Aug 07

Copyright 2007 Financial Times Information
Copyright 2007 BBC Monitoring Service , Source: The Financial Times Limited

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