BELGRADE, July 9 — A man suspected of making death threats to a Kosovo Albanian journalist reporting for a Belgrade-based television channel was placed under house arrest, a court said today.

The ruling by the Belgrade court came after the suspect, identified only as N.V. from the northern Serbian town of Becej, was detained at the weekend and questioned by the prosecutors.

The 33-year-old was suspected of sending threatening messages to N1 television journalist Zana Cimili on Instagram, it said.

He was also suspected of “incitement to national, racial and religious hatred ... and intolerance”, an interior ministry statement said.

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The court ordered that during his house arrest he should be banned from using the internet and would be “detained if he breaches the ruling”.

Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic was quick to condemn the threats to Cimili, calling them “unimaginable in the 21st century”.

She urged those who sent them be “found as quickly as possible and be adequately sanctioned”.

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The targeting of Cimili—the Pristina correspondent for N1 television—comes at a time of rising tension between Serbia and Kosovo.

Talks between the former foes on the status of Kosovo have reached a stalemate, despite pressure from the international community after Pristina introduced 100-percent taxes on Serbian goods.

Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade still refuses to recognise the move.

Cimili, who speaks both Serbian and Albanian, also works for AFPTV.

The N1 channel has been critical of authorities in the region and has often had difficult relations with Belgrade. — AFP