• COVID-19: 635 new cases, 13 deaths (media)
• Government might fail to adopt new coronavirus measures (Klan Kosova)
• Thaci pleads not guilty to war crimes (Prishtina Insight)
• Thaci’s decision to reduce sentence for murder convicts could backfire (Koha)
• Veseli to appear in court today (media)
• Haliti refutes reports that he was summoned by Specialist Chambers (media)
• Mustafa: If no agreement on President post, we go to elections (media)
• Tahiri: No one should think about dissolving the Specialist Chambers (media)
• Hoti: We’re doing the impossible to resolve fate of missing persons (media)
• LDK deputy leader: We are in favor of coalition with PDK (RTK)
• “Belgrade failed to remove Kosovo symbols at Berlin Process meeting” (media)

COVID-19: 635 new cases, 13 deaths (media)

635 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths from the virus have been recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 104 patients have recovered from the virus during this time.

There are currently 7,798 active cases of coronavirus in Kosovo.

The highest number of new cases is from the municipality of Prishtina (324).

Government might fail to adopt new coronavirus measures (Klan Kosova)

The news website reported on Monday evening that the new restrictive measures against COVID-19 proposed by the Ministry of Health might not be adopted by the government.

Citing sources in the government, Klan Kosova reported that some government ministers are against the new measures. The government was scheduled to vote on the new measures on Monday evening, but discussions will continue Tuesday.

Thaci pleads not guilty to war crimes (Prishtina Insight)

At the Specialist Chambers at the Hague on Monday, recently-resigned President Hashim Thaci pleaded not guilty to allegations that he committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Kosovo and Albania in 1998 and 1999.

In his first appearance before the Hague-based Specialist Chambers on Monday, former President Hashim Thaci rejected charges accusing him of wartime crimes.

“I heard and read them, and I do not agree with any of them,” said Thaci, who stepped down as President last week before he was sent to The Hague for trial. “The indictment is completely without basis and I plead not guilty,” he added.

Thaci is charged, alongside three other former senior Kosovo Liberation Army members – Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, Jakup Krasniqi – with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed from “at least March 1998 through September 1999” in Kosovo and Albania.

According to the ten-count indictment, the four KLA men were part of a joint criminal enterprise and “shared the common purpose to gain and exercise control over all of Kosovo by means including unlawfully intimidating, mistreating, committing violence against, and removing those deemed to be opponents.”

The indictment says that these opponents included people who were, or were perceived to have been, collaborating or associating with Yugoslav forces or did not support the aims or means of the KLA, including ethnic Albanians associated with other movements, Serbs, Roma and people of other ethnicities.

This joint criminal enterprise was involved in “crimes of persecution, imprisonment, illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, torture, murder, and enforced disappearance of persons,” the indictment claims.

Thaci is considered to be a key member of the joint criminal enterprise due to his role, first as a founding member of the KLA, then as head of its Political and Information Directorate, and after that, from March 1999, as prime minister of the Provisional Government of Kosovo and the KLA’s commander-in-chief.

Read full article at: https://bit.ly/3n8o0jv

Thaci’s decision to reduce sentence for murder convicts could backfire (Koha)

Koha reports that the decree the former president of Kosovo Hashim Thaci signed just days before being indicted on war crimes reducing the prison sentence to two convicts who were serving time for murder in the so-called Bllaca case could be used against him at the Specialist Chambers proceedings.

After Thaci’s defence counsel requested his client be released on bail, the specialist prosecutor argued that the fact Thaci reduced the prison sentence to the murder convicts is enough reason for the bail request to be rejected. The prosecutor urged the court to take into consideration the risk to the judicial process and the safety of the victims and witnesses and said that the decision to reduce sentence to two persons convicted of killing their associate are “issues that need to be treated in detail in the judicial proceedings,” prosecutor Alan Tieger said.

Koha points out former President Thaci not only reduced the prison sentence for the two men but also decided to reduce it for more than the commission had recommended. The commission had recommended one-year prison sentence reduction while Thaci pardoned three years for each convicted men.

Veseli to appear in court today (media)

Former leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Kadri Veseli is scheduled to make his initial appearance before the Specialist Chambers courtroom in The Hague today. The session will begin at 15:00 and can be viewed online.

Veseli is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

Haliti refutes reports that he was summoned by Specialist Chambers (media)

Several news websites reported on Monday evening that Xhavit Haliti, deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and one of the founders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), was summoned by the Specialist Chambers.

Haliti however reacted shortly after saying the media reports are speculation. The PDK too reacted saying that “the news that deputy leader Xhavit Haliti was summoned by the Specialist Chambers is not true”. “Haliti confirms that there is no invitation and that he is performing his party duties normally,” the statement noted.

Mustafa: If no agreement on President post, we go to elections (media)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) leader Isa Mustafa said on Monday that if political parties fail to reach an agreement on the post of Kosovo President, the country will go to new parliamentary elections.

Asked to comment on some media reports that the post of President will go to the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Mustafa said: “I don’t know, I cannot comment on this today. The decision needs to be made in the LDK; this is not an individual decision. But there is still no decision by the PDK to propose a candidate for the post of Kosovo President.”

Mustafa said there have been no discussions yet on PDK eventually joining the Hoti-led government. “We are not discuss this issue because we are faced with a very grave situation.

“The President of the country is in The Hague, so are two former Presidents of the Assembly, and the head of the Vetevendosje parliamentary group … We must engage in safeguarding the dignity of our state,” he said.

Tahiri: No one should think about dissolving the Specialist Chambers (media)

Kosovo’s Principal Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Tahiri, said in an interview with T7 on Monday that the Specialist Chambers cannot be dissolved. “No one should even think that this can be done. They [the Specialist Chambers] cannot be dissolved,” he said.

Tahiri said Kosovo is faced with a grave situation after the confirmed indictments against several former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). He added that the current circumstances require greater mobilisation.

Hoti: We’re doing the impossible to resolve fate of missing persons (media)

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti met today with the parliamentary committee on human rights, gender equality and missing persons. He said the request was to hold the meeting behind closed doors because of the sensitive information shared in the meeting.

“We informed them [the committee] about all the government’s activities since we assumed our mandate … and we focused in particular on concrete activities and plans we have drafted to address this very sensitive issue. We have asked for the meeting to be held behind closed doors because of the sensitive information we shared with the parliamentary committee. We informed them about every single case and activity that the government committee is making together with our international partners. This is the most sensitive issue in Kosovo’s society, and we are doing the impossible to resolve the fate of every single missing person,” Hoti said.

LDK deputy leader: We are in favor of coalition with PDK (RTK)

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) deputy leader and Peja Mayor, Gazmend Muhaxheri, said in an interview with Front Online on Monday evening that the post of Kosovo President should be discussed in due time between the leaders of political parties.

Muhaxheri who is in a coalition with the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) in Peja, said he would not be against a coalition with the PDK at the central level. “I am in coalition with the PDK in Peja and I cannot say that I am against a coalition [at the central level],” he said.

Muhaxheri did not rule out early parliamentary elections if a solution for the post of Kosovo President is not found in six months.

“Belgrade failed to remove Kosovo symbols at Berlin Process meeting” (media)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Monday evening that despite Serbia’s insistence to remove Kosovo symbols in today’s Berlin Process meeting via video conference, the Kosovo flag was not removed.

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj – Stublla posted on Twitter: “We cannot talk about regional coop if Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina do not recognise Kosovo & as long as Serbia continues NOT to return our missing persons. Kosovo flag & state symbols were displayed as a ‘welcome note’ for new Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs to get acquainted with the reality of the independent Kosovo.”