UN police in Kosovo used overdue rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators: there are victims

When accelerating the protest demonstration of the separatist movement of the Kosovo Albanians, “Self -determination” on February 10, the special forces of the Romanian contingent of the UN police in Kosovo used rubber bullets, whose shelf life has long expired, the UN police officer in the region said on Wednesday evening in the region Richard Monk.

The police commissar clarified that Romanian police used rubber bullets of the 1991 RB1 type, the expiration date of which is three years.

"Manufacturers limit the shelf life of rubber bullets due to the fact that over time the rubber membrane hardens, and the risks of using such ammunition are increasing significantly," Richard Monk explained.

Kosovo and International Police used special means to prevent the attack of the crowd opposing the plan of the international intermediary in negotiations on the status of Kosovo Marty Akhtisaari, to the buildings of local UN missions, the OSCE, the European Union, as well as government buildings. 82 demonstrators received wounds and poisoning with tear gas, two of whom later died, as well as eight police officers, RIA Novosti reports.

Then the death of two activists of the Albanian nationalist movement "Self -determination" caused a series of resignations in the leadership of Kosovo. The Minister of Internal Affairs in the transition government of Kosovo, Tutsmir Recep, left their posts, accused of brutal dispersal of the demonstrators, and the press secretary of the Autonomy President Ulpian Liam.

As the International Prosecutor Robert Dean said on Tuesday in Prosecutor, as a result of an internal investigation, it turned out that both Kosovo Albanians who died on the night of February 10 to 11 in the Private Hospital received mortal injuries as a result of rubber bullets , released precisely by the Romanian commandos.

On February 23, more than seventy police officers from Romania, which were part of the UN police officers in Kosovo, left the territory of the region and returned to their homeland. Among them were 11 people who were under investigation in the case of excess of their powers during the dispersal of the demonstration of supporters of the separatist movement "Self -determination".

The leadership of the UN Mission in Kosovo expressed regret that the Romanian authorities did not take into account the request of international representatives in Kosovo to leave the mentioned persons in Primetin so that they would continue to testify to the investigating authorities.