Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: Eight new cases, two deaths (media)
• Vitia: We won’t take vaccines from China and Russia (Ekonomia Online)
• Kosovo Assembly dismisses members of public broadcaster board (media)
• “Those why deny Srebrenica genocide, keep alive dream of it repeating” (media)
• Ann Linde: OSCE supports the Kosovo – Serbia dialogue (media)
• Concrete barriers at Decani Monastery replaced with wooden ones (Klan Kosova)

Serbian Language Media:

• No new coronavirus cases in Serbian areas (Radio Mitrovica sever)
• Rakic with Ann Linde on problems Serbs face in Kosovo, Dragica Gasic’s case (Kosovo-online)
• Missing persons families excluded from dialogue (Radio KIM)
• S. Embassy in Serbia: Statement on the 22nd Anniversary of the Murder of Bytyqi Brothers (rs.usembassy.gov, media)
• Serbian List: We refused to give legitimacy to the intention to “stick the label of genocide” on the Serbian people (KiM radio, Facebook)
• Dacic on resolutions: Justice is when all crimes are condemned (Kosovo-online)
• Milena Popovic: I respect Vucic, it’s clear to all what I think about Radoicic; Trajkovic: Popovic protecting Vucic from the investigation (Danas, Nedeljnik)
• Szunyog on Dragica Gasic: We are closely monitoring the situation, the competent institutions to ensure the right to return (Kosovo Online)

Opinion:

• A Global US Can’t Avoid Confronting China and Russia (Balkan Insight)

International:

• Kosovo Special Prosecutor: ‘Wartime Rape Victims Must Speak Out’ (BIRN)
• Kosovo Adopts Resolution Condemning 1995 Srebrenica Massacre (RFE)
• Is Greece moving towards Kosovo recognition? Fears of Serbian retaliation against Cyprus (greekcitytimes.com)
• Serbia ignores West’s concerns, praises China’s Marxism (euractive.com)

Humanitarian/Development:

• As Vaccination Campaigns Falter, CEE Countries Get Creative (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media  

COVID-19: Eight new cases, two deaths (media)

Eight new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths from the virus have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. Seven persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 151 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo. 5,271 vaccine doses have been administered in the last 24 hours. To date, a total of 243,428 vaccines have been administered in Kosovo. 

Vitia: We won’t take vaccines from China and Russia (Ekonomia Online)

Kosovo’s Minister of Health, Arben Vitia, said today that the mass vaccination of Kosovo citizens against COVID-19 has not been easy. “The mass vaccination of citizens started on June 15. It was not easy to reach this point because we took our mandate at a time when Kosovo had no vaccines in stock. Three months later we have made a huge leap and we are here today to call on our citizens to get vaccinated. We have secured over 2 million doses of vaccines,” Vitia told reporters after he got vaccinated in Prishtina today.

Vitia also said: “We are not in a position to pretend that the virus is gone and that we don’t want to get vaccinated. Vaccination is the only way to win the battle with COVID-19 … We won’t be taking vaccines from Russia or from China. I call on our citizens not to hesitate to get vaccinated”. He also warned that “a third wave of the virus is inevitable if people don’t get vaccinated”.

Vitia said that the anti-COVID 19 measures will be reviewed this week. “The review of measures has been postponed because of the appearance of the Delta variant. The review will be made this week,” he said.

Kosovo Assembly dismisses members of public broadcaster board (media)

The Kosovo Assembly dismissed today the members of the board of the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK). Prior to the vote to dismiss the board members, there was a heated debate between MPs from the ruling coalition and opposition MPs, the latter claiming that the ruling Vetevendosje Movement is trying to control the public broadcaster.  

The dismissed board reacted after the vote saying that it will file charges against the Kosovo Assembly. They argued that the decision to dismiss them was political, illegal and that it constitutes a flagrant interference in the work of the public broadcaster. “The current board was one of the most professional boards, consisting of renowned members of the academic and media world,” they said in the reaction. “The RTK board calls on all local and international organisations that work on the protection of the freedom of the media to react against this political and arbitrary decision of the majority in the Kosovo Assembly”.

“Those why deny Srebrenica genocide, keep alive dream of it repeating” (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in an interview with Radio Sarajevo today that the Kosovo Assembly’s adoption of a resolution condemning the Srebrenica genocide was an obligation toward justice and peace. He said it was the duty of Kosovo MPs to condemn “the wild genocide, which as I said in my address to the Assembly yesterday, was the biggest crime in Europe after World War Two”.

“We condemned the genocide of the Serbian regime in Srebrenica. Not only the killings but also all human rights violations. We know that there are over 1,000 Bosniaks still missing. We also have 1,632 missing persons in Kosovo because we don’t know what happened to them during the 1990s”.

Kurti called on all parliaments in the region to adopt a resolution condemning the Srebrenica genocide. “In addition to condemning the genocide of the Serbian regime in Srebrenica in 1995, we also condemned every tendency to intentionally deny the genocide in Srebrenica,” he said. “We know that the Montenegrin Parliament adopted a resolution for Srebrenica, and we hope that other parliaments in the region should do the same”.

Kurti also said that those that deny the genocide in Srebrenica in a way believe that it should have happened. “They identify with the criminals. I must say that in doing so they in a way keep alive the dream of the genocide happening again!” he said.

Ann Linde: OSCE supports the Kosovo – Serbia dialogue (media)

Ann Linde, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden and Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, said during her visit in Kosovo today that the OSCE supports the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. Linde said that the goal of her visit is the empowerment of women, peace and security. “I am here in two different roles. You know that as Sweden we recognise Kosovo but as the OSCE we have a status-neutral position. The OSCE supports the process of the dialogue,” Linde said. “The OSCE supports partnership with the institutions here to push forward agendas for the empowerment of women and the fight against domestic violence”.

UN Women Deputy Executive Director Asa Regner said that their focus is on sustainable peace.

Concrete barriers at Decani Monastery replaced with wooden ones (Klan Kosova)

The news website reports that KFOR has replaced two of its concrete barriers in front of Decani Monastery with wooden barriers. The League of Historians of Kosovo said in a statement: “We are grateful to KFOR for deciding to remove the concrete barriers, which depicted a grim and fearful picture for the citizens of Decan and beyond. It is painful and unacceptable that after removing the concrete barriers, KFOR set up new barriers, so it replaced them with wooden barricades. We want to express our concern for the barricades. KFOR should have removed the barricades because there is no need for barricades in that part of Decan and Kosovo.”

Serbian Language Media

No new coronavirus cases in Serbian areas (Radio Mitrovica sever)

The Crisis Staff of the Municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica announced today that no new cases of coronavirus infection have been recorded in Serbian communities in Kosovo, reported Radio Mitrovica sever. 

In the last 24 hours, 19 samples were tested.

Rakic with An Linde on problems Serbs face in Kosovo, Dragica Gasic’s case (Kosovo-online)

Minister for Communities and Returns Goran Rakic met today in Pristina Sweedish Foreign Affairs Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ann Linde, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Rakic spoke with Linde about security, returns and problems relating to the use of the Serbian language in Kosovo institutions.

As Rakic said in a statement, topics also included protection of the Serbian Orthodox Church property, non-implementation of the Constitutional Court decision on Visoki Decani Monastery land and the case of Dragica Gasic, the only Serb returnee in Djakovica.

Rakic said “it was impermissible that in the XXI century basic human rights were violated when it comes to the returns process”. 

Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Michael Devenport was also present in a meeting. During the meeting, Rakic handed over the list of all incidents (against the Serbs) that took place in Kosovo since the beginning of the year, and kindly requested OSCE representatives to invest their authority in order to present a realistic picture of all that was happening.

OSCE also said during the meeting it would always support displaced persons to return, the statement added.  

Missing persons families excluded from dialogue (Radio KIM)

New technical round of Belgrade-Pristina dialogue concluded in Brussels yesterday, and one of the topics discussed was missing persons issue, Radio KIM reports. Representatives of the associations of missing and kidnapped persons were dissatisfied with the talks, stressing they expect concrete actions.

Representatives also said they receive information about the talks in Brussels between Belgrade and Pristina on missing persons through the media only. Barjam Qerkinaj from Missing Persons Resource Center told RTV KIM he doesn’t know what was discussed in Brussels.

“The only sentence from the newspaper that was striking was that they did not agree even close to what was expected. The dialogue has no benefit for us, we have not received any answers”, Qerkinaj pointed out.

Representatives of Belgrade and Pristina do not consult their members either before or after the negotiations, he said, and reiterated that family members of the kidnapped and missing persons should be included in the dialogue.

“The Missing Persons Resource Center has over 2,000 members and does not distinguish people based on religion and ethnicity, but we all have the same pain. And we will better explain to families what is being talked about. A politician cannot do that through a newspaper or a representative”, Qerkinaj added.

Silvana Marinkovic, representative of the Missing and Kidnapped Persons Families from Kosovo and Metohija said she “has nothing to be satisfied about”. She also said she is displeased with the work of the Pristina commission as they do not allow excavations to be done in Kosovo, although locations are known.

Negovan Mavric, Association of Missing and Kidnapped Serbs in Kosovo Coordinator said “only few locations are being searched”. He said it was positive that the missing persons issue was included on the agenda of the talks in Brussels. He added that based on the statements in the media none of the sides was satisfied. “I hope that soon we will receive some information”, he said.

U.S. Embassy in Serbia: Statement on the 22nd Anniversary of the Murder of Bytyqi Brothers (rs.usembassy.gov, media)

Twenty-two years have passed since three Americans, Yili, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi, disappeared while in the custody of Serbian special police.  Their bodies were later discovered on a base in Petrovo Selo in eastern Serbia, under the control of a unit led by Goran Radosavljevic – Guri.  The Bytyqi brothers were executed, shot in the head with their hands tied behind their backs, yet after more than two decades there has not been a full investigation.  We cannot and will not forget this crime.  Delivering justice for the Bytyqi brothers and their family and holding accountable those who committed and covered up their murders remains a priority in our bilateral relationship with Serbia. The United States government again calls on Serbian authorities, who have promised to assist in this case over years, for a full investigation. This case, and many others, illustrate the urgent need for Serbia to resolve outstanding war crimes investigations and focus on strengthening the rule of law.

See at: https://bit.ly/2UzvHpJ

Serbian List: We refused to give legitimacy to the intention to “stick the label of genocide” on the Serbian people (KiM radio, Facebook)

The Serbian List deputies yesterday publicly and clearly demonstratively left the session of the Assembly in Pristina, thus refused to give legitimacy to the intentions of the Kosovo institutions to “stick the label of genocide” on the Serbian people, KiM radio reported citing the statement.

The Serbian List Facebook announcement noted that the resolution proposed by the Bosniak deputies, and supported by all Albanian deputies, unilaterally, without any basis, attacked the Serb people, the Serbian state, and so threatening interethnic relations, without saying a word about criminal suffering of Serbs, whether in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia or Kosovo, reported KiM radio.

“It is more than shameful that the assembly in Pristina never mentions crimes against Serbs, such as the murder of Serb harvesters in Staro Gracko, the murder and wounding of children in Bistrica, or expulsion and a large number of missing Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, but there is an attempt to slander and insult Serbs and Serbia in the worst possible way, and any attempt to publicly tell the truth about crimes against Serbs is condemned as a verbal offense,” the Serbian List said in a statement. 

The statement read that an organized fuss and hysteria against the Serbian people and state after so many years, which, unfortunately, started from Montenegro, was exclusively a product of envy due to the daily strengthening of our state in economic, political, military, health and every other field, reported the radio.

“Therefore, the best response of each of us, individually and our country, will be even stronger and more dedicated work and economic progress that will make our Serbia and our people stronger, freer and better,” the Serbian List concluded.

Dacic on resolutions: Justice is when all crimes are condemned (Kosovo-online)

Serbian Assembly Speaker Ivica Dacic said today that no one exerts pressure on the countries in the region to pass resolution on Srebrenica any longer, but that they want to do flattery and create an atmosphere Serbia was the only one not to condemn the genocide, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Dacic told K1 TV Serbia never justified the crimes that happened, but one should not create a situation in which only particular crimes were condemned, but not the crimes committed against the Serbian people.

“If someone wants to be righteous, then all crimes must be condemned”, Dacic said.

Asked if the text of Srebrenica resolution in Pristina was the same one as in Podgorica, Dacic responded that he hasn’t seen the text, but assumes it was about “the same cliché”.   

Dacic also said that Serbia earlier called upon the parliaments of other states to condemn all the crimes, adding that no one has done it so far.

Asked what would happen if Serbia would pass resolution on Jasenovac (WWII death concentration camp in Croatia) and whether Croatia would perceive it as directed against it, Dacic responded “it was regretful that the crimes against the Serbs were not news and do not deserve attention”.

Speaking about the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Dacic said in order to have progress there it was necessary to exert the pressure on the side which doesn’t implement its obligation from Brussels, and it is Pristina. 

Milena Popovic: I respect Vucic, it’s clear to all what I think about Radoicic; Trajkovic: Popovic protecting Vucic from the investigation (Danas, Nedeljnik)

Milena Popovic, the common law wife of the murdered Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovic, told weekly Nedeljnik that she respects President Aleksandar Vucic, the party she belongs to and nothing has changed, and that she left the session of the Serbian Parliament on Kosovo ”exclusively because of Milan Radoicic”. 

”What I know is more than enough not to sit in the same room with him. And that’s that,” Popovic told the weekly. 

Regarding the statement of the President of the European Movement of Serbs from Kosovo, Rada Trajkovic, that she would not have done so without consulting Vucic, Popovic denied and said: 

-We talked after that. I have the right to my position and my opinion, and he respects it. I am a free woman. I did it the way I felt at the time, she said. 

As for Rada Trajkovic, Popovic said: ”I would ask her to stop collecting political points through me and in that way return herself to the political scene.”

”She is the last person in the world who has the right to do that. She knows very well why,” Popovic said.  

Answering the questions, Popovic said that she had known Radoicic and Zvonko Veselinovic for 20 years.

”I have known them for 20 years. (Kosovska) Mitrovica is a small town and we all know each other. I think that after my last gesture, it is clear to everyone what I think about Radoicic,” Popovic said. 

As she stated, she would remain in the Serbian Progressive Party and her gesture did not change her political orientation. She also stated that she has confidence in the Serbian investigative bodies. 

”They are deprived of important information and evidence that Pristina does not want to give. It is much more difficult to conduct an investigation in such conditions, but I still believe that, as I have the habit of saying, each chain has the weakest link and that we will have the names of the killers, and above all those who ordered it, soon, ” Popovic said. 

Trajkovic also believe that Radoicic, Veselinovic and Bojic should be heard before the Basic Court in Pristina at the trial for the murder of Oliver Ivanovic. However, she says that Milena Popovic is in the function of “letting Radoicic and Veselinovic down the drain” and an attempt to put Vucic under protection.

– She has no other role except that the investigation is not approaching Vucic.  She must not be left without Vucic’s protection – Trajkovic told Danas daily. 

Commenting on Milena Popovic’s statement that Oliver Ivanovic’s ex-wife, Marina Ivanovic, has no credibility to testify, because “she had no contact with Oliver for more than 20 years”, Trajkovic said that Popovic was trying to distance Oliver’s family from the trial and insert herself. She stated that the role of official Belgrade was “very great from the day of the murder” and reminded that the regime’s tabloids did everything to turn the investigation to another direction.

The next trial is scheduled for August 30 this year. Ivanovic was killed on January 16, 2018, with several shots in the back as he entered the premises of his party in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, recalled Danas.

Szunyog on Dragica Gasic: We are closely monitoring the situation, the competent institutions to ensure the right to return (Kosovo Online)

The head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, when asked by portal Kosovo Online to comment on the fact “that the Municipality of Djakovica initiated a lawsuit against Dragica Gasic due to the alleged usurpation of the apartment”, stated that “the latest developments are being closely monitored by the EU”, wrote the portal. 

“We are closely following the latest developments regarding the Serb woman from Kosovo, the first returnee to Djakovica. We call on all responsible institutions and appeal to them to comply with relevant legislation and ensure respect for the fundamental rights of all citizens, including return to their place of origin,” said Szunyog in his reply for Kosovo Online. 

The portal recalled that on Tuesday was confirmed that the Municipality of Djakovica filed a lawsuit with the Basic Court in Djakovica, requesting that Dragica Gasic’s “contract is annulled on renting an apartment with a request for an interim measure”, a spokesman for the Djakovica Basic Court, Leke Muqaj told RFE.

Opinion

A Global US Can’t Avoid Confronting China and Russia (Balkan Insight)

Forget talk about ‘re-sets’ in relations; the US is on collision course with two implacable adversaries that are bent on testing its leadership and resolve, writes David L. Phillips, Director of the Program on Peacebuilding and Human Rights at Columbia University. He served as a Senior Adviser and Foreign Affairs Expert during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

The US is on a collision course with China and Russia over both ideology and influence. As a liberal democracy, the US system of government is antithetical to the authoritarian model of government in China and Russia, both egregious violators of human rights. Far from the “peaceful rise” proclaimed by Premier Xi Jinping, China in tandem with Russia is fomenting conflict in the Western Balkans, the South China Sea, and Ukraine – proving grounds of America’s resolve.

Fraternity between China and Russia dates back to the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, CPC, 100 years ago. China’s Communists were inspired by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and its consolidation across the vast Russian Empire. Likewise, Communist China was born in the cauldron of conflict. CPC cadres vanquished both the Japanese occupation and nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek. Chinese troops were deployed to the Korean peninsula in 1950. China was also at war with itself, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. China assumed leadership of the Communist world when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Russia is a world power in decline; China is on the rise. Xi and Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, are united in their sense of historic humiliation by Great Powers and opposition to the West.

Neither China nor Russia wants to directly confront the US. For now, they foment conflicts out of the spotlight and in cyberspace. Their goal is to deny universal values of freedom and democracy, while undermining US leadership and western institutions such as NATO and the EU. After the Biden-Putin summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned: “Your hegemony is over. Your rules don’t apply.”

See more at: https://bit.ly/3wrzx1o

International

Kosovo Special Prosecutor: ‘Wartime Rape Victims Must Speak Out’ (BIRN)

Special Prosecutor Drita Hajdari told BIRN that if survivors of sexual violence during the 1998-99 war agree to come forward and testify, she will deal with their cases herself.

On Monday, Kosovo’s Pristina Basic Court sentenced a former Kosovo Serb policeman, Zoran Vukotic, to ten years in prison for rape and for participating in the expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians during the war in Kosovo in 1999.

The ruling was called historic because it the first time someone had been convicted in Kosovo of sexual abuse during the 1998-9 war.

In an interview on Tuesday with BIRN Kosovo’s ‘Kallxo Pernime’ television programme, the head of Kosovo’s Special Prosecution, Drita Hajdari, urged more people to report charges of rape during the war, pledging to deal with their cases in person.

Hajdari personally dealt with the Vukotic case after his victim appeared at the Special Prosecution offices and insisted on meeting her. “It was a random day at work, I was in my office and the security team informed me that a woman wanted to meet me,” Hajdari recalled.

“She confessed … a bitter story she experienced during the war in Kosovo, about rape,” Hajdari added.

“The enemy used it [rape] as a strategy of war, by hitting the pillar of our society, the woman,” she said, adding that no punishment is enough compensation for such suffering.

There were numerous cases of sexual abuse during the Kosovo war but only three women have told their stories publicly so far.

The first, Marte Tunaj, who died in 2016, was the first Kosovo Albanian to testify about being raped in the war, in her case by a Serbian paramilitary, Milos Jokic. Jokic was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2013 by the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX.

The second survivor to testify, Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman, told her story in 2018, followed by Shyhrete Tahiri-Sylejmani a year later. But in 2014, Kosovo’s Supreme Court acquitted two former Serb policemen of raping Krasniqi Goodman when she was 16. The Tahiri-Sylejmani case is still ongoing.

Hajdari said that the prosecution currently has 50 wartime rape cases on its files. But no indictments have followed due to its inability to file an indictment in the absence of the suspect. “The investigations have ended,” she said.

Promise to protect victims’ identities

Hajdari pledged that victims’ identities will be protected if they testify, and urged them to report cases of rape during the Kosovo war, even if they lack their family’s support and have to face the social stigma that still accompanies wartime sexual abuse.

“Without the support of the family, victims do not have the certainty and courage to report these cases because most of them are not ready to face the past, due to fear and the stigma from society and the family,” Hajdari said, clarifying the importance of anonymity in such cases.

To make Vukotic’s victim more comfortable and protect her anonymity, Hajdari interviewed her in the offices of an NGO that focuses on protection of the survivors of sexual violence. “I interviewed her in the presence of a psychologist, where the victim felt much better,” she explained.

The victim had read in the media that the trial of Zoran Vukotic had started, but had not been invited to testify at Mitrovica Basic Court.

Hajdari explained that, after checking the database, she confirmed the woman was “nowhere, no statement, no trace that she … figured as an injured party or witness”.

The victim claimed she had reported the rape claim to the UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, and to the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, but never received any written acknowledgement of her report.

She also claimed that at least five other women were also raped on the same day.

“To encourage other victims to report their cases”, Hajdari explained, victims are registered in the database only by their initials. “There is no chance” of their identities being discovered, she insisted.

“Due to the potential consequences these victims can face, in the early procedure of the investigation I request from the court an order of anonymity,” Hajdari added. “A code is given to the injured party under which she has appeared in the case files during the trial.”

Moreover, “in the indictment I ask for the trial not to be public, the public is dismissed and the victim is made more comfortable”.

Vukotic, an employee of the local court in Vushtrri/Vucitrn, served in the Kosovo war in the reserve police of the Serbian Interior Ministry.

On May 22, 1999, together with other members of the Serbian military, paramilitary and police forces, he took part in the expulsion, rape and torture of Kosovo Albanian civilians.

At the town’s Muslim cemetery, Hajdari recalled that Serbian forces divided up citizens and put them in trucks and sent them to a prison.

“The citizens who were left there were made to queue in front of a two-storey house,” Hajdari said, explaining that “the women were taken in. They put them in the house and raped them”.

The victim who testified against Vukotic was pregnant with twins at the time, and was holding one child in her arms.

“At the hallway, the child she was holding in her arms was taken from her … and Vukotic dragged her [the mother] to the second floor where, with the assistance of another person, also a policeman, he violated her in the most savage way possible.”

Due to the rape the victim suffered a miscarriage after a few months and lost both twins, Hajdari said.

A large backlog of cases

Hajdari said cases of wartime massacres are prioritised by the Special Prosecution due to the big backlog. She is trying to find legal loopholes to bring old cases back to the court.

The Special Prosecution currently has only four prosecutors and is expected to hire at least two more. Hajdari says four prosecutors are not enough to complete all the work.

“We inherited 900 war crime cases from EULEX and 2,000 files for the missing persons,” she said. They also accepted other cases, and so currently have 1,000 cases, which is why they have prioritised some over others. “Sexual abuse cases and larger massacres” from the war are currently being prioritised, she explained.

Asked about potential trials for massacres in Gjakova/Djakovica and the infamous Recak/Racak massacre of January 15, 1999, when 45 Albanians were killed, Hajdari said: “They are among our priorities and are in progress”, adding that a large amount of evidence exists in these cases.

Hajdari has also taken the case of Krasniqi Goodman from the archives, but has not been able to find a legal reasoning for a retrial. “The procedure in her case has finished,” Hajdari said, though she believes the case could still be tried “in the context of superior responsibility”.

Time and space are the biggest obstacles

Together with the obstacle of having very few prosecutors, the Special Prosecution also faces the problem of time, due to the crimes having occurred 20 years ago, and the problem of space, because the perpetrators are mainly in Serbia.

Due to the ‘frozen’ conflict between Kosovo and Serbia, the two do not collaborate on war crime trials.

“War crimes have taken place in Kosovo, the witnesses are in Kosovo, as well as the evidence,” Hajdari said. However, the perpetrators are far from Kosovo. “Most are in Serbia and Serbia does not cooperate with us,” she said.

Kosovo does not cooperate with Serbia either, because it believes that its judiciary is the relevant authority to try crimes that happened on its territory, she explained.

She gives no further information on cases when witnesses from Kosovo have testified in the courts in Serbia.

The main challenge, according to Hajdari, is the time factor. “Many witnesses have died”, while some have problems recalling long-ago events, she said.

Nevertheless, she urged victims to report to the Special Prosecution, or contact her directly, particularly in sexual abuse cases. “The second option is to contact me through non-governmental organisations,” she concluded.

Kosovo Adopts Resolution Condemning 1995 Srebrenica Massacre (RFE)

Kosovo’s parliament has adopted a resolution condemning the 1995 massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces, which has been declared a genocide by a UN war crimes court.

The resolution, initiated by the Vakat coalition of parties representing the Bosnian minority in Kosovo, was approved by 89 lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament. None voted against.

The Srpska Lista party of Kosovo’s ethnic Serbian minority boycotted the debate on the resolution and did not take part in the vote.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3jXWQNQ

Is Greece moving towards Kosovo recognition? Fears of Serbian retaliation against Cyprus (greekcitytimes.com)

Is there a scenario for the recognition of Kosovo by Greece?

“Fires” ignited after an ambiguous statement by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias regarding Kosovo, who stated that the Greek position on Kosovo’s status has not changed, but said the 2010 declaration of Kosovo’s independence did not violate international law.

“Although our position on the status of Kosovo has not changed, we maintain a constructive attitude and support the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3xq0q7x

Serbia ignores West’s concerns, praises China’s Marxism (euractive.com)

There is no other party or political organisation in the world that could boast what the Chinese communist party has achieved, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told an online summit to mark the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Community Party, adding that Belgrade wants to continue strengthening its ties with Beijing.

“In the past 100 years, the founders of the Chinese communist party have succeeded in liberating the suppressed creative energy of the Chinese people,” said Vučić. 

See more at: https://bit.ly/36kXzRf

Humanitarian/Development

As Vaccination Campaigns Falter, CEE Countries Get Creative (Balkan Insight)

Countries in the region are employing various carrots and sticks to lure more citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as popular interest in the jabs dips.

The welcome announcement in late 2020 that coronavirus vaccines had been discovered created enthusiasm and hope that restrictions and lockdowns would soon become a thing of the past.

However, after initial difficulties in procuring doses of COVID-19 vaccines, some countries in Central and Southeast Europe now face another problem – declining interest in getting vaccinated.

BIRN has looked at how governments in this part of Europe are approaching the problem and asked an expert about the best way to motivate citizens to get vaccinated.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3dWEuZP