• COVID-19: Five new cases, no deaths (media)
• Szunyog: Agreement on Association is law, Government needs to implement it (Kallxo)
• Petkovic makes fun of Kosovo officials, accuses them of not establishing Association (Koha)
• EULEX slams Simmons’s allegations as “ill-conceived” and “unsubstantiated” (media)
• Simmons reacts to EULEX rebuttal: People of Kosovo deserve the truth (media)
• Ex-judge: EU law mission in Kosovo holds anti-Albanian bias (AP)
• U.S. supports the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (Klan)
• Next session against KLA leaders at The Hague scheduled for 21 July (media)
• Williamson: Terrible crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians during 98-99 (media)
• KWN urges institutions to treat crimes against girls, women as a priority (media)

COVID-19: Five new cases, no deaths (media)

Five new cases of COVID-19 and zero deaths have been recorded in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. Six persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 132 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo. 6,361 vaccine doses have been administered in the last 24 hours. To date, 260,955 vaccines have been administered in Kosovo.

Szunyog: Agreement on Association is law, Government needs to implement it (Kallxo)

Tomas Szunyog, head of the EU Office in Kosovo and Special Representative, said that the agreement on the Association of Serb-majority municipalities is law for Kosovo despite the court’s ruling that 23 points of the Constitution of Kosovo are violated in the agreement.

“The Association agreement of 2013 is something that has been signed and ratified by the constitutional majority of the parliament, so it is a Kosovo law,” he said in an interview. Szunyog added that the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has not said the Association should not be formed but that some of the principles are seemingly not in accordance to the Constitution.

“I am not suggesting any specific form as to how it should be established but I am saying it would be a wise tactic to move forward on this issue, propose something, and I am saying again that there is a dialogue in which the two sides can reach agreement.”

Szunyog said it is clear that Serbia would not be recognising independence of Kosovo in the near future but that efforts are underway to ensure an agreement that would resolve all open issues.

Petkovic makes fun of Kosovo officials, accuses them of not establishing Association (Koha)

Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo, is reported to have made disparaging comments about Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi and accused its authorities of failing to establish the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

Petkovic, who is on a two-day visit to Kosovo, said Pristina does not want to establish the Association and finds different reasons – the most recent being calls for dissolving parallel institutions. “The question is what will the next demand be – will it be that there are no more Serbs here and when that is fulfilled, then the Association would be set up.”

In a Facebook post yesterday, Bislmi revealed details from recent meetings with the EU and the Serbian delegation in Brussels. According to him, the issue of the Association of Serb-majority was not mentioned in the meeting he had with EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak. On the tripartite meeting Kosovo-Serbia-EU, Bislimi said that the Serbian delegation raised five concerns, with a special focus on the Association. “I also added that only when every Serb parallel structure in Kosovo stops functioning; when Serbia stops its illegal financing and when no one in Europe disputes Kosovo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we can sit and seriously discuss the most appropriate modalities for protecting and promoting minority rights, certainly if the minorities too deem this necessary, mentioning the fact that after the Constitutional Court of Kosovo ruled out the association, no Kosovo Serb reacted, only Belgrade did,” Bislimi wrote.

EULEX slams Simmons’s allegations as “ill-conceived” and “unsubstantiated” (media)

The EU rule of law mission, EULEX, has reacted to the allegations raised by its former head judge, Malcolm Simmons, before members of the Kosovo Assembly legislation committee saying that they are part of “a collection of ill-conceived and unsubstantiated conjectures, untruths and personal opinions.”

EULEX said Simmons is engaged in deliberate disinformation campaign related to wrongdoings allegedly occurring during his time in EULEX. “We see this as another attempt to discredit the Mission by those interested in undermining the rule of law in Kosovo as well as the EU itself.  It is also a reflection of Simmons’s dissatisfaction with the outcome of three investigations conducted against him by EU authorities in Brussels and submitted to his United Kingdom (UK) seconding authorities for further action.  Simmons also seems to be discontent with the UK court dismissal of a civil claim that he brought against the Mission and other EU institutions in 2020.  In short, he is unhappy with all legal proceedings against him.”

EULEX said that Simmons’s allegations regarding the “Klecka” case are contradicted by reality while the panel composition in the “Drenica II” case was legal. The mission also said that it never handed over any war crimes case to Serbian authorities, contrary to what Simmons alleged.

Simmons said yesterday that the EU mission was more “political” than about the rule of law, and that EULEX would pressure him to appoint judges who were not prone to acquittals because “the success of the mission was measured by the number of punishments.” Prishtina Insight reported that Simmons cited two major war crimes cases – the Drenica case in which ten former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters were all found guilty, and the Klecka case, in which former guerrilla turned politician Fatmir Limaj and nine others were acquitted. According to him, “there was a lot of pressure on the Drenica case to have punishment” in order for EULEX to demonstrate to Serbia that it was sanctioning Kosovo Albanian suspects for war crimes.

See EULEX’s statement: https://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/?page=2,10,2411

Simmons reacts to EULEX rebuttal: People of Kosovo deserve the truth (media)

Malcolm Simmons, former EULEX judge, responded to the rebuttal issued by the EU rule of law mission against his allegations raised at an assembly committee hearing yesterday.

“Rather than simply issuing press releases, I invite EULEX and its Head of Mission to cooperate with an enquiry of the Kosovo Assembly.  The people of Kosovo deserve to know the truth about the way EULEX has administered justice,” Simmons said in a Twitter post.

Simmons also slammed as a “lie” EULEX’s statement that his allegations against the mission began only after several disciplinary proceedings had been launched against him and that this was an attempt to deflect attention from the investigations. “I reported serious misconduct in 2013 – THREE YEARS BEFORE EULEX started a disciplinary investigation.  The truth is coming out and EULEX cannot stop it,” Simmons argued.

Ex-judge: EU law mission in Kosovo holds anti-Albanian bias (AP)

A former British judge on Monday accused the European Union’s legal watchdog in Kosovo of political meddling in many trials aimed at subverting Kosovar Albanians.

Malcolm Simmons made the accusation against the EU’s Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, or EULEX, during a digital call with Kosovar lawmakers.

Simmons resigned from EULEX four years ago and has since accused the organization of “trying to bring down part of the Kosovar political class.”

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3i6WWjw

U.S. supports the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (Klan)

The State Department released the annual Elie Wiesel Act report to Congress assessing the current or past atrocities around the globe and the United States response.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said the United States reaffirms its commitment to preventing, mitigating, and responding to atrocities worldwide.

On Kosovo, the report notes: “State has supported the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which has begun trying individuals, including former President Hashim Thaci for crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

The U.S. Embassy meanwhile reiterated that preventing and responding to global atrocities is not only a U.S. national security priority, but a moral imperative. “The U.S. supports Kosovo-led transitional justice efforts, including the work of the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office & the Specialist Chambers,” the Embassy said in a social media post.

Next session against KLA leaders at The Hague scheduled for 21 July (media)

Kosovo Specialist Chambers have set the date of the next hearing in the case against former KLA leaders accused of war crimes. The status conference in the case against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi will take place on 21 July.

Williamson: Terrible crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians during 98-99 (media)

The U.S. prosecutor, Clint Williamson, who was lead prosecutor in the Special Investigative Task Force that investigated allegations of inhuman treatment of people and organ trafficking in Kosovo, said in an interview with Voice of America in Serbian that not resolving war crimes leaves black clouds over the region.

Williamson commended the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. “It is a multi-national effort to find the truth. During all this period, there did an extraordinary work. It is difficult to go back to the crimes that happened more than 20 years ago; evidence disappear or get old, witnesses get sick, some lose their memory, some are dying. So the more time passes the more difficult it is to prosecute the case,” he said.

On the ongoing cases before the KSC at The Hague, Williamson said he did not want to prejudge how they would be concluded. “At the end of the day, all you can ask or wish for is a free trial. A trial that would take place without intimidation of witnesses, without political interference, which contributed to ruining processes in the past.”

Williamson commented on the critics saying that KSC was trying to balance the crimes committed by Serbian forces against Albanians with crimes committed towards the Serbs saying that he was in Kosovo in 1999 as part of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia and witnessed first-hand atrocities against Albanians. “No one can deny the things that happened,” he said adding however that the fact of the matter is that there were crimes on both sides. “Much more Kosovo Albanians than Serbs got killed. But this does not diminish the suffering that the Serb victims faced or change the fact that they are also entitled to justice.”

KWN urges institutions to treat crimes against girls, women as a priority (media)

Kosovo Women’s Network issued a statement for the press saying it was deeply concerned over media reports that a thirteen-year-old girl in Janjeva was repeatedly abused and raped.

KWN said there is an institutional silence in face of the growing number of cases of violence against women and girls and that the most recent case should serve as a wake-up call. “These crimes against girls and women should be treated with priority and authors of these crimes should be convicted without compromise.”

Kosovo Women’s Network also urged the media to practice caution when reporting such cases, noting that the identity of the underage victim should not be disclosed.