The Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, KPC, on Monday denied the requests of several Serb prosecutors to return to their posts, nearly four years after Kosovo Serbs staged a mass resignation from Kosovo institutions in 2022.

Chief State Prosecutor Zejnullah Gashi told the KPC meeting on Monday that while he supported prosecutors from the Serb community being part of the system, he had not had time yet to familiarise himself with the matter.

“I stand by the position … that colleagues from the Serb community should also be part of the prosecutorial system. Regarding this topic or issue, I must honestly say that I was not informed in time, as I have only just assumed the role of Chief Prosecutor,” he said.

Media in Kosovo have reported that five prosecutors and 15 administrative staff members have asked to return.

KPC member Arlinda Muqa said the return of Serb prosecutors should not be treated as a political matter but solely as a legal issue.

“Kosovo has fulfilled all obligations arising from the agreements on the integration of the judiciary and the prosecution service. It provided them [Serbs] with the opportunity to become part of the constitutional system, enjoying all associated rights and professional guarantees. In 2022, they chose to resign; this constitutes a personal and legal act, the consequences of which are clearly defined by law,” she said.

Another KPC member, Visar Krasniqi, said: “As things stand, I cannot find grounds to support their return. I am convinced that the failure to verify their integrity is a serious issue, and I do not feel able to vote in favour of their return until time reveals whether these individuals were involved in activities that our own legislation does not recognise.”

Most Serbs in Kosovo’s four Serb-majority northern municipalities resigned on November 5, 2022, from their state posts, claiming that EU-mediated agreements between Serbia and Kosovo were being breached.

The resignations followed a meeting in the town of Zvecan organised by the Belgrade-backed party representing Kosovo Serbs, Srpska Lista.

Srpska Lista said the mayors of the Serb-majority municipalities, councillors, MPs, judges, prosecutors, judicial staff and Kosovo Police officers had all quit their jobs. During the meeting in Zvecan, Serb police officers symbolically took off their Kosovo police uniforms to applause from the participants.

The then leader of Srpska Lista, Goran Rakic, announcing the boycott of Kosovo’s institutions, said these decisions would remain in effect until an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities, as agreed in the EU-facilitated Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, was established.

The move came two days after then regional director of the Kosovo Police for the Serb-majority north, Nenad Djuric, was suspended after he claimed that police in the north would not implement the government’s decision to issue reprimands to drivers of vehicles with licence plates issued by Serbia, which are considered illegal by the Kosovo authorities.

Sources told BIRN that the Kosovo Judicial Council has also received requests to return to work from several Serb judges. The exact number is not known.

After the 2022 boycott took effect, ethnic Albanians were elected as mayors in the north in extraordinary local elections in April 2023, on very low turnouts, after Serbs stayed away from the polls.

After these new mayors took office, the security situation in the north deteriorated. Clashes between protesters and NATO peacekeeping forces led to around 93 NATO personnel being injured, with one having a leg amputated.

Kosovo authorities also shut down a series of so-called “parallel” Serb institutions – services run outside government control – in the north of the country.

The European Union imposed some sanctions on Kosovo in June 2023 in response to the worsening security situation. These measures were lifted in March 2026.

Serb mayors retook power in the four Serb-majority municipalities in December 2025. During the election campaign, Srpska Lista admitted it had made a mistake in urging Serbs to abandon Kosovo institutions in 2022 – but said the decision had at least attracted the attention of the international community.