With reference to today’s media reports and allegations related to the role of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) in relations to the ongoing judicial proceedings related to the violent events in Banjska/Banjskë, EULEX would like – once again – to reiterate that:

-Since 2018, EULEX no longer possesses an executive mandate. Therefore, EULEX is legally unable to conduct any type of criminal investigations, such as the drafting of incident reports, collection of photographic evidence, autopsy records, medical reports of the injured, weapons and explosives analysis, witness testimonies, etc..

-EULEX has not received any direct request of support from the Basic Prosecutor Office in Belgrade in relation to the case.

-While EULEX’s mandate includes, inter alia, support to the Kosovo Police in the field of international police cooperation by only facilitating the exchange of police information between the Kosovo Police and INTERPOL, EUROPOL or the Serbian Ministry of Interior, it is the EU Special Representative (EUSR) in Kosovo, and not EULEX, which is responsible for the facilitation of Mutual Legal Assistance requests between Kosovo and non-recognizing countries Judicial and Prosecutorial Authorities, including Serbia. Such a request of support from the Basic Prosecutor Office in Belgrade, if filed, would then go beyond the scope of our current mandate.

-In line with its current mandate, EULEX has closely monitored, and continues to monitor prosecution and court activities conducted by Kosovo authorities related to the case, in order to assess if Kosovo rule of law institutions comply with the applicable legal framework and with their human rights obligations, without discrimination.

-In line with the Mission mandate, if through our monitoring activities, serious shortcomings are identified, we address these with the responsible authorities, developing recommendations and advice that enables them to effectively tackle such shortcomings.