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Balkan Insight (14 January 2019)

A Kosovo court on Monday detained a suspect named only as B. Elshani for 30 days, for posting a photograph with a threatening message to the Prime Minister and an ISIS flag in the background.

The prosecution has accused Elshani of preparing terrorist or criminal offences against the constitutional order and security of the Republic of Kosovo.

The Pristina court decision reads that there are well-founded suspicions that the suspect was engaged in preparing terrorist acts between end of 2018 and early 2019.

“On January 10, 2019 ... [B.E.] published threatening photos against the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, with a description and a background that shows the flag of the terrorist organisation ISIS, with an intent to seriously intimidate the population and seriously destabilize the basic political and constitutional structures of the Republic,” the court said.

It clarified that when police intervened, the same photograph was found on his phone, as well as a knife, which were both confiscated.

The defendant told court on Monday that his comments were not intended as threats, and were motivated by his belief that PM Haradinaj does not like Islam.

“My aim was not to threaten the Prime Minister because even if I wanted to, it is not possible, while I thought that he does not like Islam after listening to some of his statements, where he talks ill about Muslims,” Elshani told the court.

Apologising to the court, he stated that when he shared the picture, he did not know he was committing a crime.

Secular but mainly Muslim Kosovo remains nervous about Islamist radicalism. The US State Department Country Reports on Terrorism for 2017  described it as a country where the authorities continue to fight a growing threat of terrorism.

The report noted that about 403 Kosovo citizens traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight for or join ISIS or al-Nusrah Front, of which about 74 have died.

Around 133 of these individuals have returned, while about 196 remain in the conflict zones. The report noted further that about 40 children were born to Kosovo citizens in conflict zones.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-detains-a-suspect-for-threatening-pm-using-isis-flag-01-14-2019