A severely ill British man is being ‘wrongly’ detained in a ‘hellhole’ Serbian jail accused of war crimes after being held during a mass arrest at a border crossing, his family claim.
Sadik Duraku, 53, originally from the Kosovan village of Demjan, was held while driving over the border from Croatia at Batrovci to visit family last week.
He was hauled before the High Court for War Crimes in Belgrade and accused of membership of the Kosovan Liberation Army (KLA) and committing outrages during the 1999 war in Kosovo.
His family say that is impossible because he was in Britain applying for asylum by 1998 and did not leave the country again until 2004.
Critics have accused authoritarian Serbian president Aleksander Vucic of a political stunt amid rising tensions between his nationalist government and the autonomous region of Kosovo.
Sadik Duraku, 53, originally from the Kosovan village of Demjan, was held while driving over the border from Croatia at Batrovci to visit family last week
His daughter Suzana wrote in a petition online: ‘He is being held for another 30 days before going to court, I fear what will come after this’
In a petition posted online, his daughter Suzana wrote: ‘One day after Kosovo took a step closer to becoming a member of the Council of Europe, Serbia detained hundreds of Kosovans and Albanians at the crossing of the Serbian border.
‘One of those victims was my father, Sadik Duraku, a British Citizen living in Brighton.
‘Whilst others have been released, my Father remains in custody.
‘He is being held on false claims that he was part of the Kosovo Liberation Army, UCK, in 1999, their claims state that he has committed War crimes during the alleged time in 1999’.
She added that this would be an ‘impossible feat’ as her father, along with her and her family, had been seeking asylum in the UK in 1998.
‘The asylum process means we could not possibly leave the UK until 2004,’ she said.
‘At this critical juncture, Sadik and our family require tangible evidence to refute these baseless allegations and need support with securing an observer in Serbia to ensure fair procedures and his safety.
‘Therefore, the documentation of our asylum applications and movements within the UK from 1998 to 1999 is vital.
‘The British Home Office should have this information and, together with the British Embassy, should be able to arrange an observer.
‘What we also need is pressure from the UK to release my father.
‘He is sick with a heart condition. He had a heart attack in 2021 and suffered a cardiac arrest.
‘To this day, he suffers from this heart attack and has a leaky valve and high blood pressure. We worry that the stress and conditions will aggravate his condition.’
She added: ‘He is being held for another 30 days before going to court, I fear what will come after this.’
Hundreds of people were detained for more than 15 hours during the incident on April 17, with several others, including police officials reportedly charged.
Vucic has been accused of seeking to emulate ally Vladimir Putin by stoking tensions with Kosovo.
Duraku, director of a car wash company based in Brighton, is set to remain in detention until he appears in court again next month.
A source said: ‘It’s a very serious situation. It’s a hellhole custody centre.’
There have been several reports of war crimes committed by the Kosovan Liberation Army, directed at Serbians, ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with Serb authorities, and other ethnic minorities – primarily the Roma.
The KLA was a militant group of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, set up in the early 1990s.
From 1996, its members carried out attacks on Serbian police stations and other targets.
Serbian forces responded by cracking down on Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population, raiding villages and dragging people from their homes.
According to a 2001 report by Human Rights Watch the KLA ‘was responsible for serious abuses… including abductions and murders of Serbs and ethnic Albanians considered collaborators with the state.
‘Elements of the KLA are also responsible for post-conflict attacks on Serbs, Roma, and other non-Albanians, as well as ethnic Albanian political rivals,’ it added.
The report also alleged the KLA were responsible for the ‘widespread and systematic burning and looting of homes belonging to Serbs, Roma, and other minorities and the destruction of Orthodox churches and monasteries… combined with harassment and intimidation designed to force people from their homes and communities… elements of the KLA are clearly responsible for many of these crimes’.
