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O 191309Z SEP 07
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000694 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE 
NSC FOR BRAUN 
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI 
EUR/ACE FOR DMAYHEW 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2017 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PINR PREF PHUM SOCI KV UNMIK
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: USOP INTERVENTION STOPS SERB PROPERTY 
CRISIS IN KLINA - AGAIN 
 
REF: PRISTINA 616 
 
Classified By: Chief of Mission Tina Kaidanow for reasons 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY (C) Despite USOP's recent intervention in a pair 
of property disputes involving Kosovo Serbs in Klina 
(reftel), the municipal government has since attempted to 
repossess the property known as the "Youth Center."  After 
initial attempts to use expropriation (similar to eminent 
domain in U.S. law), the municipality declared the building 
illegally constructed and ordered it demolished on September 
¶3.  After heavy pressure from USOP and senior Albanian 
politicians acting at our request, the municipality agreed to 
halt its attempt to demolish the building, but additional 
pressure from USOP was then required to stop yet another 
action - the charging and arrest of the Serb occupant for 
"forgery."  We will continue to monitor the situation to make 
certain the municipality respects the property rights, as 
recognized by the Kosovo Property Agency (KPA), of the Kosovo 
Serb in question, especially in this sensitive time of final 
status resolution.  END SUMMARY. 
 
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE "YOUTH CENTER" 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The property in question has been at the center of 
several legal disputes going back for the last 13 years. 
Sasa Radosavljevic, the current occupant of the property, 
attempted to build upon it in both 1994 and 1996, but was 
prevented from doing so by the municipality.  In 1998, he 
secured possession rights and a construction permit, and 
began building a house, which he abandoned half-finished in 
1999 during the NATO air campaign.  According to UNMIK 
Peja/Pec Regional Hub Director Luis Perez-Segnini, the 
municipality occupied the property in 2002 and transformed it 
into the "Youth Center," allowing an Italian NGO 
("Movimondo") to set up an office there in 2006. 
 
THE PROPERTY CLAIM 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Radosavljevic filed a claim with UNMIK's Housing 
and Property Directorate (HPD) in 1999; he and his family 
were then staying in a refugee center in Nis, Serbia.  The 
Housing and Property Claim Commission (HPCC) ruled in 
Radosavljevic's favor on February 13, 2004.  The municipality 
had the opportunity to appeal; it did, and the HPCC again 
found in Radosavljevic's favor on March 19, 2007.  Soon 
after, Radosavljevic asked the Kosovo Property Agency (KPA), 
the successor organization to the HPCC, to enforce the 
decision.  After a drawn-out process and several public 
refusals to allow him back into the property, USOP pressure 
helped convince the municipality to hand over the keys on 
August 14, 2007 (reftel).  The municipality, however, 
continues to claim that Radosavljevic forged his building 
permit from 1998.  (Note: The KPA saw all documents relating 
to this property, and took them into account before issuing 
both the initial decision and the refusal of the 
municipality's appeal.  End Note.) 
 
ROUND TWO 
 
¶4.  (C) Despite the pressure it had received from the PISG, 
the international community, and USOP, the municipality 
renewed efforts to take control of the property on August 10, 
even before Radosavljevic reoccupied it, attempting first to 
employ expropriation.  Similar to eminent domain under U.S. 
law, expropriation cases in Kosovo often take a long time to 
complete and require compensatory payment to affected 
property holders.  In mid-August, the municipality changed 
tack, and began a separate effort to demolish the building. 
Only one day after the Klina mayor and CEO assured poloff 
that they were committed to the "legal process" of 
expropriation, municipal building inspectors visited the site 
August 24, demanding to see building permits and other 
documents.  Radosavljevic refused to deal with them; when he 
failed to produce documentation, they then wrote a report 
 
PRISTINA 00000694  002 OF 003 
 
 
declaring the property illegally constructed and recommending 
demolition.  Subsequent to this, the municipality said it was 
abandoning its expropriation case and going forward with 
demolition; a demolition order was filed on September 3, 
giving Radosavljevic 15 days to demolish the building or face 
action. 
 
USOP INTERVENES AGAIN...AND AGAIN 
 
¶5.  (C) After COM weighed in with Assembly Speaker Kole 
Berisha, who is from Klina, and LDK General Secretary Rame 
Manaj (a former mayor of Klina) to ask them to intervene with 
the municipality, USOP met Klina Mayor Prenke Gjetaj and CEO 
Shpen Trdevaj on September 6 to request that they again cease 
efforts to control the property.  They promised to drop the 
demolition order, but "only until the resolution of Kosovo 
final status."  Despite this, on September 11, USOP received 
word that the municipality had charged Radosavljevic with 
forgery and was threatening to arrest him; during a 
subsequent USOP phone call to the mayor inquiring about this 
(and warning him against such an action), the mayor told us, 
incredibly, "we only had an agreement about the building 
itself," before agreeing to refrain from arresting 
Radosavljevic. 
 
BAD TRENDS 
 
¶6.  (C)  In a separate development in this case, the Danish 
Refugee Council (DRC), an NGO active in assisting Serb 
returnees in Klina, told us September 11 that they had 
decided against the planned return of Radosavljevic's wife 
and children to Klina because of security concerns.  This 
decision was made after consultation with municipal CEO 
Trdevaj, who reiterated the municipality's assertion that 
Radosavljevic's documents were forged.  The general security 
situation for Serbs living in the town center of Klina has 
deteriorated in recent weeks; in August, unknown assailants 
stoned the home of a recently-returned Serb family (on August 
23, the owner showed poloff a pile of rocks he collected 
after the attack), and on September 5 unknown assailants 
threw stones at an elderly Serb woman outside her home.  In 
both cases, the KPS responded, but no assailants have been 
identified to date. 
 
¶7. (C)  These cases continue a pattern of violence against 
Serbs in the town of Klina; in December 2006, a grenade and 
firearm attack damaged the home of a elderly Serb woman; 
another Serb returnee living in Klina and awaiting 
enforcement of a KPA decision was staying with her at the 
time.  (Note: While the municipality itself has not, of 
course, been linked to these attacks, the Mayor and CEO 
warned USOP September 6 that they will find it difficult to 
restrain local residents from responding with anger, if these 
outstanding property cases are not "decided fairly."  We 
pushed back on this strongly.   End Note.) 
 
¶8. (C)  Comment:  The municipal authorities in Klina have 
consistently claimed that they are only trying to uphold the 
law and act in the best interests of their constituents, but 
their actions have been very damaging to Kosovo's image 
during the critical period of Troika-led negotiations.  The 
municipality's relentless effort to drive out Radosavljevic 
was initially framed in the context of saving the "Youth 
Center," but the true goal appears to be control of this 
property by any means.  While this is only one case in one 
municipality, it does have an effect on Serbs seeking to 
reoccupy their properties through the KPA process.  USOP 
continues to be at the forefront, with our ICO partners, in 
fighting back against unjust and illegal attempts by Kosovar 
Albanian authorities to expropriate Serb property or to 
violate the Ahtisaari-delineated "Special Protection Zones" 
around Serb cultural monuments and religious sites.  We will 
continue to follow this case in particular to make certain 
that KPA decisions are respected and Serb families receive 
their due.  End comment 
 
PRISTINA 00000694  003 OF 003 
 
 
KAIDANOW