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Former Kosovo Serb police officer Dejan Pantic, whose arrest has fueled tensions between Belgrade and Pristina, will be released from custody and placed under house arrest, a Pristina court spokesman told Reuters.

Pantic was arrested on December 10 on charges of assaulting police officers during a previous protest.

His detention has fueled tensions between the Kosovo government and the ethnic Serb minority, which has blocked roads in the north of the country demanding Pantic's release.

Serbs erect road barricades in northern Kosovo amid rising tensions