Ethnische Säuberung per Gesetz in Südserbien
03.01.2024
Swiss Press Award 24 Video – E – Peter Balzli / Kushtrim Kadriu
Ethnic Cleansing by Law, in Southern Serbia
10 vor 10 / SRF
2024
Peter Balzli / Kushtrim Kadriu
2nd place 2024
The Serbian government is pursuing a systematic policy of expulsion in the south of the country. There, in the Preševo Valley, live 60,000 people of Albanian origin. In the run-up to the parliamentary elections of December 2023, some of them – up to 8,000 people according to estimates by a human rights organisation – were deleted from the population register, largely without prior notice. This not only means that they can no longer exercise their democratic rights, but also that they are excluded from health cover. A man also tells the reporter that he will lose his house. He speaks of a “very polite way of carrying out ethnic cleansing”; an opposition politician speaks of a “sophisticated plan by the Serbian ruling party”. The minister responsible rejects the allegations and the Serbian media barely reports on the issue. The Serbian Progressive Party wins the elections and remains in power.