Serbia freed three Kosovo police officers taken into custody by its security forces earlier this month, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said Monday, after a court ordered the trio’s release. The move follows weeks of soaring tensions between the two sides, after rioting in northern Kosovo saw more than 30 NATO peacekeepers injured in late May. “We confirm that the 3 kidnapped police officers have been released. Even though we are joyous that they get to return to their families, this abduction consists of a serious human rights violation & must be reprimanded,” Kurti wrote on social media. Kurti’s announcement came as a Serbian court said the three had been indicted but their detention had also been “terminated”. “The higher tribunal… has confirmed the indictment against the aforementioned and brought a ruling that the detention of the indictees be terminated,” read a statement by the higher court in Serbia’s Kraljevo, where the case was heard. The arrest of the three policemen started a war of words between the Kosovo government and Serbia, with Pristina saying the three men had been kidnapped.