Albanian Language Media:

• No meeting between LDK and LVV today (Ekonomia Online)
• Zyberaj presents documents: Lubisa Dikovic personally involved in war crimes (media)
• “How should I know” Vucic responds asked when will dialogue with Kosovo resume (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• The robberies in Gracanica have no end (Kontakt plus radio, TV Most, KIM radio)
• Gracanica Mayor Popovic: These are not just ordinary robberies (KIM radio, RTS)
• “Next year, Putin, Jinping, Merkel and Johnson are coming to Serbia” (O2, B92, Tanjug)
• Trial of Nenad Arsic for war crimes begun

Humanitarian/Development:

• Village of Ljevosa: The hard life of Serb returnees (Radio Gorazdevac, KoSSev)
• Protect Victims of Wartime Sexual Crimes, Serbia Urged (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media

No meeting between LDK and LVV today (Ekonomia Online)

No meeting is planned to take place this morning between the leader of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) Albin Kurti and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Isa Mustafa.

LVV media official Arlind Manxhuka said there will not be a meeting as reported yesterday.

Meetings between Kurti and Mustafa did not mark any result so far. During their meetings, they repeatedly agreed to continue with discussions.  

Zyberaj presents documents: Lubisa Dikovic personally involved in war crimes (media)

Jetlir Zyberaj, adviser to Kosovo’s Minister for Foreign Affairs took to Facebook to write today that former commander of Serbian Army Ljubusa Dikovic has committed mass murders against Albanians in Kosovo and added that there is evidence for this.

“Ljubisa Dikovic has personally supervised the situation in the zone which was under his control and he has personally given orders on how the army should maneuver. He has personally given orders to murder innocent Albanians, including children, and he has personally participated at such murders. This is one of many documents which show Dikovic’s involvement in massive murders. Kosovo prosecutors have the dossiers to urgently raise charges against Dikovic,” Zyberaj wrote. 

“How should I know” Vucic responds asked when will dialogue with Kosovo resume (media)

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said he is not certain if Serbia would be accepted by the European Union and if a compromised solution with Kosovo Albanians would be reached. He however said that Serbia sticks to the European path.

Asked by TV 02 when the dialogue with Pristina would resume, he responded shortly “How should I know.”

Vucic informed that Serbian parliamentary elections will take place at the end of April or beginning of May. 

Serbian Language Media

The robberies in Gracanica have no end (Kontakt plus radio, TV Most, KIM radio)

Robberies in Gracanica not only they are an everyday occurrence, but they are getting more and more intense every day, reports Kontakt plus radio. 

Namely, just a few hours after the meeting of Gracanica Mayor Srdjan Popovic with the security forces, two more robberies were reported at the police station in Gracanica.

According to the residents, the house of Jovan Babic and Safet Ragipi’s shop were robbed last night in the street leading to the Dragan Dzajic sports complex in Gracanica, from which the thieves took all the money and other valuable goods, reported Radio Gracanica. 

“This is unbearable, every day happens some new case such as this one, we feel unsafe,” Ragipi says.

Jovan Babic’s house is currently empty because the owner resides in central Serbia for health reasons. 

Police have conducted an investigation and an investigation is ongoing.

The radio recalls that in the past week alone, five Serb households in the Gracanica municipality have been robbed. 

The Dancetovic and Simic families were robbed, and after two days the house of the Jorgic family was broken into, and the next day the house of the Miladinovic family, located in the center of Gracanica near the police station.  

Gracanica Mayor Popovic: These are not just ordinary robberies (KIM radio, RTS)

Gracanica Mayor Srdjan Popovic held a meeting yesterday with representatives of the Kosovo Police and KFOR on frequent thefts in the area of this municipality, reported KIM radio. 

It was decided that police and KFOR should increase visibility on the ground, Popovic said after the meeting. The meeting was attended by Gracanica police station commander Bratislav Trajkovic and Bondsteel military base commander Robert Hughes. 

Popovic asked for increased involvement of security authorities in order to protect the property and lives of residents.

“I explained to them that for us Serbs living on the territory of Gracanica municipality, these are not just ordinary robberies, but that this is a vital issue. That these were the goods that people have been earning all their lives, and on the other hand, there was this safety factor, because as I heard these days in conversation with our residents, they told me that they don’t want to sleep in their houses anymore,” Popovic said.

Popovic said it was encouraging what the commander of the Gracanica police station said at the meeting, that there were suspects of the latest criminal acts that occurred on the territory of Gracanica municipality, and that he could expect positive results in the coming period.

Popovic added that he would organize such meetings daily “until Gracanica is a safe place to live.”

“Next year, Putin, Jinping, Merkel and Johnson are coming to Serbia” (O2, B92, Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Belgrade-based O2 TV there is a need for establishing good relations with EU countries and announced visits of world leaders to Serbia for the next year, media report.

Vucic added that “we do not have such enthusiastic support within the European Union” when it comes to ‘mini-Schengen’ initiative.

“It is not easy for Europeans to criticize the four freedoms that are part of the EU itself: freedom of movement for people, goods, services and capital. But they do not like to see the Balkans determine its own destiny. They have been doing this since the establishment of the first forms of modern statehood of Serbia, from the very first hatt-i-sharifs and the Constitution, to the present day”, Vucic said.

“We want to do all the reforms that are necessary, and they praise those economic reforms. But are you sure that if we do everything they want and reach an agreement with Pristina, that they will admit us to the Union? I am not sure”, Vucic noted.

He stressed the need to establish good relations with EU countries, primarily because of “Europe’s aspiration to be a power and a force for itself and due to Europe’s non-acceptance of the division into two major powers.”

Vucic particularly emphasized the importance of establishing relations between Serbia and the UK in the future.

“We need to continue our European path and build bilateral partnerships with the UK as soon as possible. Britain will be a key US ally, much more pronounced than it has been before, and it is important for us to try to work together in the future”, he said, adding that it is “realistic” for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to come to Serbia next year.

“I cannot guarantee it, but I am almost convinced that I will be able to persuade Boris Johnson to come to Serbia”, Vucic said, emphasizing that Serbia today has more respect than it has had so far.

“Next year, the Chinese and Russian presidents will come. I am convinced that Johnson will come by the end of next year. Macron came this summer; I guarantee Merkel will come to Belgrade next year. We brought the Japanese Prime Minister, President of Israel was also here, as well as representatives of some powerful African countries, who visited our Serbia after a long time”, he underlined.

See at: https://bit.ly/375rNGd

Trial of Nenad Arsic for war crimes begun (Radio KIM, Kosovo-online)

Special department of the Pristina Basic Court has started preparatory hearing in the case of Nenad Arsic from Caglavica, suspected of committing war crimes in the Emsir settlement in Pristina in 1999, his lawyer Dejan A. Vasic confirmed to Kosovo-online portal.

Vasic expects the first instance decision in the case of his client will be made latest by April next year.

“This is the beginning. The prosecution has no high number of witnesses, I think that the defence will have material evidence. And I expect this trial to end by March of April next year,” Vasic said.

Nenad Arsic is currently staying in detention in Podujevo. He is accused that together with other members of the Serbian police in 1999 mistreated two Albanian civilians, in Pristina’s settlement of Emsir, allegedly beat them up, forced them to drink alcohol and sing Serbian songs.

Arsic refuted these crimes.

Development/Humanitarian

Village of Ljevosa: The hard life of Serb returnees (Radio Gorazdevac, KoSSev)

Due to the harsh living conditions during winter, only a few people remain in the returnee village of Ljevosa, located just three kilometers from Pec, at the very place the Rugova Gorge begins. Radio Gorazdevac journalists spent a day with one of the returnees, KoSSev portal reports.

In the village of Ljevosa, we find, Rajo Asanin, almost 90 years old, chopping firewood. Asanin, a retired biology professor, lives with his wife in the village, located right at the beginning of Rugova Gorge. He spends his days gathering herbs. Rajo Asanin has helped many people easily eliminate their health issues. He revealed one of his recipes to us.

This former biology professor is aware of the consequences of illegal logging. He tried to defend his forest, but he has had many problems with the law due to this issue.

“I was punished for defending the forest from an illegal logger. I paid the fine and I was supposed to spend seven months in jail. However, he continued cutting down the trees. And nobody is preventing them from doing so,” Asanin said.

Once upon a time, this village, known for the high-quality chestnut trees found here, was filled with pastures and orchards. According to Rajo Asanin, however, life is no longer the same.

“We used to live good lives back when we had jobs in the city. Today, we are just surviving here from day to day,“ he told Radio Gorazdevac.

Only two families remain in the village of Ljevosa during January. Life in the village is harsh, but collecting herbs helps Rajo endure the harsh conditions. He said that he collects the herbs “for his soul“ but also for friends who sometimes seek his help.

See at: https://bit.ly/37aSHN7

Protect Victims of Wartime Sexual Crimes, Serbia Urged (Balkan Insight)

The Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre NGO urged the prosecution and judiciary in Serbia to do more to protect vulnerable victims of wartime sexual crimes during investigations and trials.

The Humanitarian Law Centre, a Belgrade-based NGO that represents victims in some war crime cases in Serbia, issued a policy paper on Monday calling on the Serbian judicial authorities to better protect victims of sexual violence during trials and investigations for crimes committed in the Yugoslav wars.

See at: https://bit.ly/379ns4H