U.N. reopens court in flashpoint Kosovo Serb town

(Adds Mitrovica police chief statement in para 8-11)

By Branislav Krstic

MITROVICA, Kosovo, Oct 3 (Reuters) - International officials regained control on Friday of a U.N. court in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica that ethnic Serbs took eight months ago in protest at Kosovo's declaration of independence.

The Serb minority of some 120,000 people among 2 million Albanians rejects Kosovo's secession from Serbia.

Kosovo's Serbs, financially backed by Serbia, pledged never to accept a European Union judicial and police mission that is set to deploy. They insist on the U.N. administration of the region as agreed in 1999.

Two international judges and two prosecutors entered the court house on Friday after it had been secured by dozens of international police officers. No incidents were reported.

"In this initial phase of the reopening, the prosecutors and international judges will only handle urgent criminal cases, and apply UNMIK law and procedure. Civil cases will not be heard," the U.N. mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said in a statement.

"In the next phase, local judicial workers and court staff would be introduced. This would increase capacity to deal with more cases," it said.

The court will officially start working on Monday.

Mitrovica police chief Milija Milosevic said that the opening of the court will help his forces establish law and order in northern Mitrovica region.

"Lack of operational court was directly preventing the police performing their duties," he told Reuters.

Since February, police officers were not able to write a simple speeding ticket as there had been no court to process them.

Kosovo Serbs began protests in front of the court building on Feb. 17 when the Albanian majority declared independence.

They prevented Albanian court workers crossing the bridge over the river Ibar that divides Mitrovica into a Serb north and an Albanian south.

One Ukranian police officer was killed and dozens of his colleagues were injured in clashes on March 17 between U.N. police trying to enter the building and Serb protesters.

Some 20,000 Serbs live in north Mitrovica. They refuse to deal with Kosovo institutions and see Belgrade as their capital.

Belgrade lost control of Kosovo in 1999 when NATO intervened to halt the ethnic cleansing of civilians in Serbia's former province and the United Nations took over.

The deployment of the European Union's Rule of Law Mission (EULEX), designed to keep up an international presence in Kosovo instead of UNMIK, has faced long delays. Only several hundred out of a 2,200 mission personnel have arrived.

So far 47 countries have recognised Kosovo as an independent state. Belgrade has launched a motion before the U.N. General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice's opinion on the legality of Kosovo's secession. (Additional reporting by Shaban Buza. Writing by Ivana Sekularac. Editing by Richard Williams)