• Reactions to prosecution’s requests for 45-year sentences for former KLA leaders (media)

• CEC certifies election results; way is paved for formation of new institutions (media)

• Gruda: I will vote for whichever candidate from Jashari family for Kosovo President (KTV)

• Abdixhiku expresses to Osmani “the LDK’s full support” for Board of Peace (media)

• Haradinaj supports Osmani’s engagement in Board of Peace (media)

• EU says Serbia violating 2015 agreement by arresting people from Kosovo (RFE)

• Petkovic: Provisions cited by EU spokesperson don’t exist in the agreement (Kosovo Online)

• Osmani: Kosovo’s path toward NATO and EU is unstoppable (media)

• Kosovo ranked one point lower in corruption perception index (RFE)

• Former KLA member arrested in Serbia in November released (media)

• Cultural centre promotes Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities’ heritage (Prishtina Insight)

Reactions to prosecution’s requests for 45-year sentences for former KLA leaders (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani reacted on Monday to the Special Prosecution’s request for 45-year-sentences for each of the four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Osmani argued that any attempt to equalize the liberation war of the KLA with the crimes and genocide committed by Serbia undermines and seriously damages long-term peace. “Kosovo and its citizens want justice. The war of the KLA was righteous and pure. This truth cannot be changed with attempts to rewrite history and to stain and devaluate the fight of the people of Kosovo for freedom,” she said in a Facebook post.

Osmani said that during the war in Kosovo, “Serbia’s goal was to exterminate the Albanian people, and showed this by killing and massacring thousands of children, women, men and the elderly, by raping thousands of women and men, destroying hundreds of thousands of houses, expelling over 80 percent of the people of Kosovo from their homes, ethnic cleansing, the disappearance by force of thousands of people and other atrocities”. 

Kosovo caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti, commenting on the prosecution’s requests, said on Monday that “the moral and historical core of our liberation war consists of the survival and dignity of the people. The KLA led a fair, protective and defense war. It was led in the circumstances of a wild occupation where the violence of the apartheid was turning into state genocide. Any attempt to take individual actions from this historical and political context risks deforming the truth and the meaning of that war. We never had an extermination plan against another people or civilians. Today’s request by the Prosecution in the Hague for 45-year sentences for each of the accused leaders of the KLA is not based in any accepted international standard of conviction. It completely ignores the context of the war in Kosovo and tries to put that issue in a legal vacuum … The Republic of Kosovo remains unwavering in its belief that the KLA led a fair war and an anti-colonialist uprising. Kosovo’s institutions will continue to protect the factual and historical truth, the value and dignity of the war for freedom and the basic principles of justice, by opposing any attempt to deviate them,” he argued.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a post on X that he is “still trying to find the source of the logic followed by the prosecution to make the request to burry four men alive and like never before I cannot the words to express myself”. “Apologies, I need some time to swallow all that mountain of sh*t that that prosecution put out today in the heart of democratic Europe,” he said.

CEC certifies election results; way is paved for formation of new institutions (media)

All news websites reported on Monday that Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) certified the final results of the December 28 parliamentary elections, paving the way for the constitution of the new Assembly and the formation of a new government.

Gruda: I will vote for whichever candidate from Jashari family for Kosovo President (KTV)

MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Perparim Gruda, said on Monday that he would personally vote for whichever candidate from the Jashari family if they are nominated for the post of Kosovo President. “I will vote in favor of whoever is nominated from the Jashari family. Towards that family I make no politics, I give my vote to the Jashari family. I cannot say the same for Vjosa Osmani. She may become President again, but she will not have a plain vote without a discussion with the Democratic Party of Kosovo, and without the PDK being certain that there is a political process in place where its requests are addressed,” he said.

Abdixhiku expresses to Osmani “the LDK’s full support” for Board of Peace (media)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) leader Lumir Abdixhiku said in a Facebook post on Monday that he met with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani to discuss the Board of Peace in which Kosovo is a founding member. “I was informed about President Donald Trump’s initiative to establish the Board of Peace; an initiative that aims to strengthen stability, dialogue and peace, and which strengthens Kosovo’s international position. I expressed to President Osmani the full support of the Democratic League of Kosovo for the initiative. Strengthening peace and alliances, especially with the US, and Kosovo’s international role, should be our advantage,” he said.

Haradinaj supports Osmani’s engagement in Board of Peace (media)

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) leader Ramush Haradinaj met on Monday with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani to discuss the Board of Peace, and political developments in Kosovo and the region. “I expressed to President Osmani my appreciation for Kosovo’s participation in the Board of Peace following an invitation by President Donald J. Trump. Every partnership with the United States of America, in every initiative that we stand by each other, is of special importance for Kosovo. The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo supports this engagement without hesitation,” Haradinaj said in a Facebook post.

EU says Serbia violating 2015 agreement by arresting people from Kosovo (RFE)

The European Union said on Monday that Serbia’s latest arrest of a veteran of the former Kosovo Liberation Army is “another violation” of obligations from the agreement on dialogue and justice reached in 2015. “According to the agreement, Serbia pledged not to initiate any criminal investigations or criminal proceedings for crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo, except if this is requested by the authorities of Kosovo. The jurisdiction on alleged war crimes and other serious acts falls on Kosovo’s institutions. We call on Serbia to respect its pledge,” a spokesperson for the European Commission told the news website.

Petkovic: Provisions cited by EU spokesperson don’t exist in the agreement (Kosovo Online)

Head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, stated that the alleged provisions cited by the European Commission spokesperson in connection with the arrest of a former KLA member in Serbia do not exist in the 2015 Justice Agreement, nor in the 2016 Conclusions of the EU Facilitator on Justice. As Petkovic told Kosovo Online, the situation has moved from a phase of non-implementation of agreements to a phase of inventing them.

“As the chief negotiator for Belgrade in the technical-level dialogue conducted in Brussels, I can confirm that the alleged provisions of the agreement to which the European Commission spokesperson refers do not exist anywhere in the aforementioned documents. In 2015, the Justice Agreement was reached, and in 2016 the Conclusions of the EU Facilitator on Justice were adopted. None of these texts mention the provisions cited by the European Commission spokesperson,” Petkovic said.

He assessed that it appears the process has shifted from non-compliance with agreements to their outright fabrication.

Osmani: Kosovo’s path toward NATO and EU is unstoppable (media)

Most news websites cover an interview that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani gave to Monocle Radio, highlighting her remarks that Kosovo’s path toward NATO and the European Union is unstoppable and that Kosovo is furthering its relations with the United States of America.

See more at: http://tiny.cc/elry001

Kosovo ranked one point lower in corruption perception index (RFE)

Kosovo has been ranked 43 in the Corruption Perception Index for 2025 published by Transparency International, marking a decrease by one point compared to last year. The rating ranks Kosovo as 76^th in the world from a total of 182 countries and territories, or three positions lower than in 2024.

Former KLA member arrested in Serbia in November released (media)

Most news websites reported on Monday night that Avni Qenaj, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who was arrested by Serbian authorities in November last year, has been released. His attorney confirmed the information and said that Smakiqi was on his way to Kosovo.

Cultural centre promotes Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities’ heritage (Prishtina Insight)

A new multicultural space in Prishtina is giving long-overdue visibility to the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities in Kosovo, with the aim to preserve their heritage and culture.

Across the Western Balkans, elements rooted in Romani culture are present in everyday life, artistic expression, and social traditions. However, the community itself remains largely invisible, and little is known about the culture whose influence can be traced throughout the region.

A new multicultural space in Kosovo’s capital, Prishtina, aims to tackle this problem of ignorance. KRAH (Wing)—a multicultural centre opened in December of 2025 in Mati, one of the fastest-developing neighbourhoods in the outskirts of Prishtina—is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history, culture, and identity of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities in Kosovo.

Through stories of persecution and survival, glimpses of daily life at home and at work, , and expressions in customs, music, and art, the centre showcases the roots and enduring journeys of these communities.

Njomza Uka-Selimi, programme officer at the NGO Voice of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians in Kosovo, VoRAE, told Prishtina Insight that they established the centre to give these communities the visibility that they have long lacked.

Read more at: http://tiny.cc/elry001