"New attack", "Kurti will not retreat" - this is how Sputnik and RT Balkan misinform about the demolition of buildings in Ujman

"Pristina's new attack on Serbian property in Ujman: The 'Ibër-Lepenci' company has submitted its demands" and "Kurti does not back down: A new wave of demolitions of Serb weekend houses in Ujman is being prepared" - regarding the removal of objects in Lake Ujman are two articles claiming Serbian narratives published on the Sputnik and RT Balkan portals. 

There are a number of claims that present the process of removing unauthorized buildings exclusively as an ethnically motivated measure and as an alleged "crime" against Serbs, claiming that in Albanian-majority areas, unauthorized constructions are not affected.

Also, with the section "Kurti does not retreat", an attempt is made to create insecurity and panic among the Serbian community living in Kosovo, and consequently victimization in front of internationals.

Analysis :

The law does not only apply to Serb property – in Pristina and other areas, unauthorized Albanian buildings are also demolished.

The claim that Kosovo institutions only remove Serb-owned objects is not supported by the facts.

Municipal inspectorates and the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning have been implementing measures for the removal of illegally constructed buildings for years, even in municipalities with an Albanian majority.

In recent years, actions against unauthorized construction have been carried out in other parts of Kosovo, such as Rugova, Batllava and Pristina.

Likewise, media outlets such as Radio Free Europe emphasize that in the case of Ujman, the issue of dispute is related to land ownership and the legality of the buildings, while the owners oppose the decisions and attempt to protect their rights through legal procedures.

The demolitions in Ujman are implemented based on legal procedures and administrative decisions.

The aforementioned texts, which also claim to incite panic, leave out the legal framework that regulates the issue of waters, construction, and unauthorized buildings.

The public hydro-economic enterprise JSC “Ibër-Lepenci” is registered in the cadastral records as the public bearer of rights over the water land and the protective belt of the Ujman (Gazivoda) hydro-energy accumulation.

According to the Law on Waters of Kosovo (Law No. 04/L-147), the construction of permanent residential buildings and hotel facilities is strictly prohibited in public water assets and in zones I and II of the protection of drinking water accumulations.

For the removal of illegally constructed structures on public/state water properties, according to legal procedures, multi-year court proceedings are not always necessary. The Environmental Protection Inspectorate and the Water Inspectorate can issue administrative decisions for execution in order to protect the water supply and the public interest.

According to this legal framework, the fact that an owner challenges the decision in court does not automatically mean that the building has a building permit or that it was built in accordance with regulations.

It is not true that there are 300 unauthorized buildings and that only Serb property is being demolished.

Claims that building demolitions in Kosovo are only carried out against Serbian owners do not match the facts.

An example is the case in Pristina, where the Maxhuni family's house in the Vetërnik neighborhood was demolished.

According to reports, the facility was removed by the municipal inspectorate because it was built on land owned by the municipality, therefore without an appropriate legal basis.

The number of several hundred thousand buildings built without permits is related to estimates of the total number of unauthorized constructions throughout the territory of Kosovo.

This information, in itself, does not prove that the law applies only to a particular ethnic community.

The law provides for the possibility of legalizing certain objects, but objects located on public land, in water resources or in protected areas may be subject to removal.

The same legal basis applies to other cases of unauthorized construction. The Kosovo Law on the Treatment of Unauthorized Constructions sets out procedures for all illegally constructed facilities, including the possibility of legalization or removal if they do not meet legal requirements.

The law does not discriminate against owners on the basis of national origin.

cONcluSiON

Claims that “only Serbian property is being demolished,” that “there is no legal basis” for the removal of buildings, or that land use contracts are sufficient evidence for legal construction, represent an incomplete and selective representation of the facts.

The texts of Sputnik and RT Balkan leave out the legal context and present a property dispute as an exclusively ethnic issue, although the available facts show that it is a combination of issues of land ownership, construction permits and the protection of public resources.

/The Geopost/