Reaction to the statement of Kosovo police (kp) spokesperson Mr. Baki Kelani
February 2, 2016. Serbian Orthodox Church press service published reaction of Archimandrite Sava Janjic to the statement of Kosovo police (kp) spokesperson Mr. Baki Kelani, we provide the full text of the message below:
In his statement for local media the Kosovo police spokesperson Baki Kelani said yesterday that the armed persons who were arrested two nights ago in front of our Monastery had nothing to do with terrorism and that it was only a case of illegal weapons possession. Kelani also said that „the car with suspects had been seen much before but was stopped by police in the street, which was the most appropriate
location for the police“.
In relation to this statement it is very important to have in mind that appearance of armed persons with Islamist literature in the car is far from an ordinary case of illegal weapons possession. The arrested were definitely not tourists and the Police must investigate what they were doing armed in the vicinity of the Monastery at night. As the incident happened in front of the Monastery gate we are particularly interested to have all the fact on this incident fully published. Kelani’s hasty statement that armed Wahhabists have nothing to do with terrorism is an insult for common sense and is damaging for Kosovo Police credibility.
At the same time it is not true that Kosovo police stopped the car with suspects. In the video material from CCTV cameras around the monastery one can clearly see that it was the Islamists themselves who had stopped the car in front of the Monastery and that police patrol came only later, checked their documents and searched the car. Today
we showed this material to the local chief of the police who had been out of Kosovo until yesterday. It is sad indeed that the KP spokesperson Mr. Kelani gave incorrect statements without having learned the facts beforehand and without anybody from KP requesting to see the video files immediately after the incident. Publishing arbitrary information is creating an impression of downplaying of the case for unknown reasons which is not to the benefit of Kosovo citizens regardless of their ethnic or religiou background as the terrorism is a danger for all. This is also damaging already
diminished confidence of our Church in Kosovo police particularly regarding the protection of our sites which are no longer protected by KFOR.
We strongly believe that the Police will for the sake of transparency and professionalism of their work inform the public with all details of this case and that this incident will not remain one among many ones which have remained unsolved.
Fr. Sava Janjić
The Abbot of Visoki Dečani Monastery