Kosovo’s Police Inspectorate said on Wednesday that it was investigating reports published on August 11 claiming officers used excessive force against a Serb man, Nenad Raskovic, during a raid at his home near the northern municipality of Zubin Potok.

Photographs shared on media and social networks show injuries on Raskovic’s back.

The Police Inspectorate, IPK, said it had interviewed Raskovic at North Mitrovica Hospital, where he is receiving treatment.

“The IPK has initiated this preliminary investigation with the aim of verifying the allegations and clarifying all relevant facts and circumstances related to the case,” the Inspectorate, an independent institution overseeing police conduct, said in a statement.

The Inspectorate said it would take all necessary steps, including “cooperating with relevant institutions, obtaining official documents and information, and interviewing people who may have knowledge of the incident”.

The Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party, Srpska Lista, said Raskovic said police officers entered his home in Dren village on Tuesday and, after searching the property, began hitting him without explanation.

“After that, Nenad was left tied to a tree. With the help of friends, he was freed and taken to the Family Medicine Centre in Zubin Potok, and then to the Clinical Hospital Centre in Mitrovica,” the party said.

In interviews given to media from hospital, Raskovic alleged that he was beaten by Kosovo police.

The Srpska List party called on Western embassies and organisations, NATO-led peacekeepers in KFOR and the EU rule-of-law mission EULEX to “examine the allegations and take action within their respective mandates to establish the facts and ensure the rights and safety of citizens”.

Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, also posted photos of the alleged injuries inflicted by Kosovo police on Tuesday, saying that “these are photos of [Kosovo Prime Minister Albin] Kurti’s ‘democracy’.

“For weeks, months and years, we have been warning the entire international community about the persecution of Serbs by Kurti’s regime, which has led to this. When those responsible face no sanctions and there is no adequate protection, these are the consequences,” Petkovic wrote.

Kosovo Police confirmed searching Raskovic’s home. Erduan Baliqi, a police spokesperson for the North Region, told BIRN: “Raskovic’s house was among the properties searched during the operation in Dren village… The searches were related to information on weapons.”

Baliqi said the police had “no information about the use of violence”.

Civil society organisations in Serb-majority northern Kosovo have called on the European Union to assess EULEX’s monitoring of the Kosovo Police.

“These allegations require an urgent and independent investigation, as well as an appropriate response from the relevant institutions,” they said in a statement.

The allegations come as attention focuses on war-related crimes in the Zubin Potok area, where excavations have been carried out in several villages in search of mass graves.

So far, remains believed to belong to four people have been exhumed, while three people have been arrested on suspicion of war crimes against civilians.