Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti on February 27 meeting: I believe they’ll stick to proposal, not one party’s interest (media)
• Szunyog: Govt, Assembly didn’t take into account EU comments on several laws (RFE)
• Sergiy Maslichenko appointed the new director of the EBRD in Kosovo (media)
• Abazi after interview by prosecution on Dehari case: I will not stop (media)
• Kurti on Abazi’s statements: Untrue and incorrect (media)
• PDK sends the Draft Law on the Bureau to the Constitutional Court (media)
• Hovenier: The U.S. is proud partner of KSF (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Public discussion on expropriation in Zubin Potok concluded (KoSSev, media)
• Mijacic: Pristina ruined tourist season in Zubin Potok (Kosovo Online, media)
• Vulovic sends letter to Quint, international missions over expropriation in Zubin Potok (Kosovo Online, media)
• The Court of Appeal confirmed the verdict against Svetomir Bacevic (Kontakt plus radio)
• Vucic: Agreement with UAE on kamikaze drone purchase due within 48 hours (Tanjug)

Opinion:

• Kurti’s wrong argument: CSM (ZSO) much more multi-ethnic than all of Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

Albanian Language Media  

Kurti on February 27 meeting: I believe they’ll stick to proposal, not one party’s interest (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti talked today about the upcoming meeting in Brussels on February 27, saying that he expects further discussions on the basis of the European proposal.

On the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, Kurti said there are five sentences of the preamble with 10 articles, adding that he believes the parties will stick to the proposal they have received and not to the interest of one party.

Several news websites quote Kurti as saying that the Association will not be discussed on February 27.

Kurti also said he cannot discuss further details now and that it depends on the facilitators of the dialogue. “After Monday, we will be able to know what and where,” he said.

Szunyog: Govt, Assembly didn’t take into account EU comments on several laws (RFE)

Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, said today that neither the Government nor the Assembly took into account the EU comments during the adoption of the law on wages and the law on civil servants. He made these remarks during the annual conference “Reform of public administration – progress, challenges and the way forward” organised by the Group for Legal and Political Studies. Prime Minister Albin Kurti too was present at the conference.

Szunyog said: “We don’t agree with the Assembly’s approach to adopt these laws with a fast procedure, because these laws need to include useful conclusions with all parties of interest”.

He also said that he does not agree with the way the government has chosen to review the law on civil servants. “I regret to say that the EU comments were not taken into account by the government and the assembly,” he added.

Sergiy Maslichenko appointed the new director of the EBRD in Kosovo (media)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has appointed Sergiy Maslichenko as its Director in Kosovo.

He will lead the Bank’s operations from Pristina, where the EBRD has invested around €6000 million since the beginning of its operations in Kosovo in 20122.

Sergiy Maslichenko said “I am very honoured to lead the EBRD’s important work in Kosovo, a young country with high potential. I look forward to working together with the government of Kosovo, the business community and civil society to support the country’s economic growth, build a green and resilient economy and strengthen regional integration and foreign investment.” 

Abazi after interview by prosecution on Dehari case: I will not stop (media)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Haki Abazi, was interviewed by the Special Prosecution today about his statements on the Astrit Dehari case and the blood samples disappearance from the Institute of Forensic Medicine. Abazi told a press conference in Pristina last week that the prosecution must interview Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu for the disappearance of the samples.

Abazi told reporters today that he cannot disclose any details from his interview with the prosecution. “As I’ve said in my statement in the hallway of the Assembly, it is a matter of the prosecution to deal with this and see that justice is done. I cannot disclose any information on this matter because it is an issue of investigation and the prosecution. But what I say as an MP and as a free citizen of the Republic of Kosovo, whose freedom of speech is guaranteed, I will not stop regardless of the limitations that may exist,” he said.

Kurti on Abazi’s statements: Untrue and incorrect (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti has said that the accusations of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV)MP Haki Abazi are untrue and incorrect.

“They are neither true nor correct. The Minister of Justice responded to this. LVV is the largest and most democratic political party. We discuss all issues openly in our forums and each MP expresses his concerns, but I cannot be responsible for someone else’s public speech,” Kurti said. 

PDK sends the Draft Law on the Bureau to the Constitutional Court (media)

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has sent the Draft Law for the State Bureau for Verification and Confiscation of Unjustified Assets to the Constitutional Court. This was confirmed by the coordinator of the Department of Justice in PDK Perparim Gruda.

According to him, this draft law violates many aspects of human rights, which are protected by the Constitution of Kosovo.

This draft law was approved in the Assembly on February 9 in the second reading.

Hovenier: The U.S. is proud partner of KSF (media)

The teams of the Kosovo Security Force, that stayed in the areas affected by the devastating earthquake in Turkey for about two weeks, returned last night to Kosovo. 

“The United States expresses its deep gratitude to the @KSF_Kosova search & rescue and medical teams as they return home to Kosovo. The KSF team conducted successful assistance operations in Türkiye and saved several lives. The U.S. is a proud partner to the KSF,” Hovenier Tweeted. 

Serbian Language Media 

Public discussion on expropriation in Zubin Potok concluded (KoSSev, media)

Residents of villages and hamlets in Zubin Potok municipality affected by decision of the Kosovo government on new expropriations, but also the private owners of already used parcels during today’s public discussion requested their properties be released. They said they wanted neither bases nor asphalted roads in their vicinity. Their legal representatives and legal experts warned of violations of the laws and rights because of which term expropriation can not be applied to those acts of the Kosovo government, KoSSev portal reports.

Legal experts and lawyers also consider that “plunderage” and usurpations were in place, because of belated procedure. They criticised representatives of the expropriation department from Pristina who also today referred to the same law and didn’t provide answers to concrete questions – what are the works about and why properties are expropriated, why no one was timely informed and what is the final purpose? Pristina representatives spoke about economic development and that they will take into consideration concerns of the affected residents.

Jaksic announced filing a criminal lawsuit and asked what was done on his property of public importance?

It is to the merit of international community that this discussion is even held at all, and it is good that they are here today to see how “rights of the Serbian people” are respected in Kosovo, Marko Jaksic, member of the family whose land parcel has been expropriated much earlier than the rest of expropriated parcels.

“If it were not for their pressure to prevent legal violence, this would have not occurred”, he said.

Jaksic recalled a number of unlawful decisions Pristina made since last year, mainly in August last year. He also asked representatives of the Kosovo government to indicate on the map where exactly Velji Breg is located, given that Kosovo government previously included this village into expropriation plans for Leposavic municipality.

He didn’t ask about final purpose of the expropriations, saying he knows intentions of the new decisions as well and showed photographs of the top Kosovo officials, including president, prime minister and minister of interior who visited this summer already constructed bases in Zubin Potok and posed with Kosovo police officers for photos in the parcels affected by disputable expropriations.

Lawyer: This can not be called expropriations because the law is not respected

“This what we should talk about today is not expropriation at all, this is a plunderage”, lawyer and legal representatives of the affected landowners Nebojsa Vlajic said today.

He opined the process could be termed expropriation once all legal procedures are respected.

“When the law is not respected, there is cruelty”, he added.

He also said he thought that Kosovo government representatives will learn something from public discussion held in Leposavic, however “he did not” because also in Zubin Potok he quotes the law and doesn’t say anything concrete.

Vulovic: Regrettable that those who must implement the law are violating it

Former Zubin Potok mayor Srdjan Vulovic reacting to the remarks of Pristina officials that Zubin Potok lacks economic development said should it had been the case then Pristina should have approached Zubin Potok residents in a different manner.

They should come to the municipality and present their plans for improving that economic development, he said.

He added that the law in this particular case was violated exactly by those who should enforce it – prosecution, court and police. He said he perceives this expropriation as a direct confiscation of properties.

He listed a sequence of events in his municipality concerning the works carried out on private properties. 

“Citizens came to me on July 1, with a report that someone has usurped their properties. Our official along with the citizens went to the spot and informed us that construction machinery was on the road and that they were building something on Branko’s Hill – cadastral zone of Gornji Jasenovik”, Vulovic explained.

He also said that members of Kosovo special police units prevented citizens and a municipal official from approaching the land.

Four days later the municipality informed the police station that unauthorised people took over private properties. The day after, on July 6, he continued, they informed contractor “Ileaa GR” from Pristina to stop the works and come to Zubin Potok municipality and inform them what it is about.

“Nothing happened. Nobody came, nor anyone informed us. We tried to find out what this was about, but had no information”, he said. On August 29, they again informed the police station, prosecution and contractor “Eskalatori” from Urosevac but in vain, as the municipality received no reply from any responsible body.

All those dates, he said, he mentioned to inform the public that those dates come before the Kosovo government decision, which was made on August 19.

“Therefore all those actions were illegal. The police illegally took over private properties, the prosecution was silent, it did not respond”, he said.

He added people are determined to remain on their properties and will fight with legal means for their rights. He once again underlined that Kosovo government representatives were supposed to do everything before and come to the municipality, instead of building the bases on disputable parcels first. 

Mijacic: Pristina ruined tourist season in Zubin Potok (Kosovo Online, media)

Institute for Territorial Economic Development Director Dragisa Mijacic said at today’s public discussion on expropriation in Zubin Potok that the strategic goal of this municipality is touristic  development, however, the last season was cancelled because of the situation in the municipality, Kosovo Online portal reports.

“We have a touristic product called Via Ferrata which is the best and the largest touristic product of this type in the world, and those are experts saying so. Another touristic potential is Gazivode Lake. Via Dinarida is the third product, and its walking path goes next to the police base constructed in Jasenovik now. This summer when we went to mark the trails, special police officers chased us as if were terrorists, and what would happen if we had tourists on that day. Who would come back here again”, Mijacic said.

He noted that tourist guides of France and England mark Mokra Gora Mountain as one of the ten hidden tourist destinations in the Balkans.

“That is why I am asking you what public interest is for what you are doing in Zubin Potok, we had to cancel entire last season, because we can not bring tourists”, he said, adding that he is not sure what to promote at upcoming international tourism fair “tourism in Zubin Potok or Kurti’s war adventurism”.

“Do we talk about economic interest here? Why do we need militarization of a touristic municipality if we talk about economic development”, he underlined.

Referring to Pristina’s aspirations to join the Council of Europe, he said this organisation rests on the principle of protection based on two conventions – European Charter of Human Rights and European Charter of Local Self-Governance.

“What you are doing is in direct contradiction with both conventions. Trust me, how much we fought for the development of tourism here, we will equally fight not to destroy tourism in Zubin Potok and we will also inform all members of the Council of Europe, all Quint states and all international partners, including the EU which invested in tourism. Because if it is in the public interest of Kosovo, it can’t be both – militarization and economic development. It is up to you to choose”, he concluded. 

Vulovic sends letter to Quint, international missions over expropriation in Zubin Potok (Kosovo Online, media)

Former Zubin Potok mayor Srdjan Vulovic sent a letter to Quint ambassadors, heads of EU Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, OSCE, EULEX and KFOR Commander regarding Pristina’s decision to expropriate Serb-owned properties in this municipality, aiming at constructing police and military bases, Kosovo Online portal reports.

In a letter Vulovic argued that violent and unlawful confiscation of immovable, mainly privately owned properties at seven locations in this municipality, was underway by Pristina central-level authorities aiming at constructing military and police bases, adding that some of the bases have already been reconstructed in the villages of Gornji Jasenovik and Banje.

He warned that an entire process has been implemented in contradiction with the Law on Expropriation, Constitution and Human Rights Convention along with its protocol 1. 

Vulovic further noted that the right to property is not equally applied in Kosovo for all and that they depend on the arbitrariness of the current government, both in the case of the Visoki Decani Monastery and private properties in northern Kosovo.

He underlined that construction of a police base in Gornji Jasenovik started at the end of August last year, and the government with its decision from February 2023, approved “further consideration of the request on its own initiative for expropriation of immovable properties”, referring to the parcels where mentioned base has already been built.

He noted although the government attempts to conceal what projects of public interests it talks about when expropriating properties in northern Kosovo, their intention and aims are clear, as demonstrated by building a base in Gornji Jasenovik village, and it is full militarization of northern Kosovo.

According to Vulovic, Kosovo government with its acts on expropriation in northern Kosovo, respectively lack of respect for domestic legislation and international documents undermines the rule of law and applies double standards.

He said that no provision of the Law on Expropriation includes the possibility to carry out expropriation of immovable properties for the purpose of building military and police bases, adding that is why the government avoids to mention what is the public interest of expropriation. The Law also clearly says expropriation can’t be done in order to carry out discrimination, however, the Pristina government obviously has intention to discriminate against population living in the territory of Zubin Pootk municipality given that no public interest was mentioned in the decisions and it is clear expropriation was not carried out for the purpose of economic well being of the residentes, road infrastructure, education institutions or social services.

He also said that no border police bases exist in bordering areas with Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia, ten or more kilometres away from the border as is the case with northern municipalities. 

The Court of Appeal confirmed the verdict against Svetomir Bacevic (Kontakt plus radio)

The Kosovo Court of Appeal confirmed the first-instance verdict against Svetomir Bacevic, who was sentenced to five years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population. The court rejected the appeal of the Special Prosecutor’s Office, which requested a higher sentence, as well as the appeal of his defence to dismiss the verdict, reported Kontakt plus radio.

“In the explanation of the verdict, the second-instance court pointed out that after analysing the appeal against the verdict, together with the case files, and the assessment of the appeal allegations and the response to the appeal, it determined that the appeal verdict does not include significant violations of the provisions of the criminal procedure from Article 384 of the CC, stated in the appeal of the defendant’s counsel, because the provision is clear and understandable, while the explanation contains complete and clear reasons for the given decisive facts and that the appellate verdict does not contain other violations that would require the mandatory annulment of the appellate verdict, nor was the criminal law violated to the detriment of the accused,” stated the announcement of the Court of Appeal, reported Kontakt plus radio.

Kontakt plus radio recalled that Svetomir Bacevic from Belo Polje near Pec was sentenced in September of last year, in the Basic Court in Pristina, to five years in prison because of the war crime against the civilian population in 1998 in Kosovo and Metohija. 

In the verdict, Bacevic was found guilty for, as stated, participating in the kidnapping and mistreatment of H.K. 1998 in Belo Polje, and upon the report of S.Č.

“Despite the fact that the injured party said before the jury that Svetomir Bacevic was not the person who took her from the house, and that she does not know that man at all, after this verdict, there is really nothing more that I could say about the trials against the Serbs on the charges for war crimes in Kosovo,” said his defence attorney, lawyer Dejan Vasic, reported Kontakt plus radio, citing RTS. 

Media recalled that Bacevic is a displaced person and lives in Gornji Milanovac, in Serbia proper. In December 2020, he went from Belo Polje to Pec to collect personal documents. He was arrested in the municipal building and taken to the police station. After the information interview, he was transferred to Pristina for detention – as the Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced earlier.

Vucic: Agreement with UAE on kamikaze drone purchase due within 48 hours (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi Serbia would sign its first agreement to purchase UAE-made kamikaze drones within 48 hours and that the drones would be delivered soon.

“Those are kamikaze drones and will be in Serbian territory soon. We also hope we will be able to have the first kamikaze drones in the Serbian Armed Forces in the next five or six months”, Vucic told reporters at the IDEX 2023 international arms fair.

“We must continue to work on everything else because a challenging period is ahead of us”, Vucic said.

He said he had had important additional discussions with Serbian defence industry companies and that they needed to undergo reforms and introduce true corporate management and operate based on market principles, rather than sell products below cost prices.

Opinion 

Kurti’s wrong argument: CSM (ZSO) much more multi-ethnic than all of Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti as the main argument against the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, which is an obligation of Pristina from the Brussels Agreement, cited its mono-ethnicity, and at the same time pointed that Kosovo is multi-ethnic with 93 percent of the Albanian population. The facts, however, say exactly the opposite, because in the municipalities where Serbs are the majority in Kosovo, a significant percentage of the Albanian and other population lives, especially in the municipalities of Novo Brdo, Gracanica and Strpce, which would make CSM (ZSO) a far more multi-ethnic environment than the whole of Kosovo, reported Kosovo Online. 

Journalist and writer Zivojin Rakocevic,  who is the president of the Association of Journalists of Serbia and lives in Gracanica, told Kosovo Online that when someone like Kurti talks about percentages ( of the people living in Kosovo), it is an announcement of danger and engineering.

According to him the percentages in Kosovo have been incorrect for 70 or 80 years, that is, there are no reliable data on either Albanians or Serbs.

Rakocevic said that “Kurti sees a certain percentage of Serbs will not harm his ethnocracy. We are playing with some imaginary figures in which the authorities in Pristina are trying to say – you are gone’’. He explained that if a report comes from Pec, and there are no Serbs there, there is no problem. To Rakocevic this is the essence and asked Pristina and the international community whether this is normal, natural, and democratic. 

To Rakocevic, there is no doubt ”Kosovo is a perfect monoethnic society”, in which ”there is no place for others and different (people), not even for those who think a little differently from the ruling totalitarian ethnocratic ideology”.

“ Kosovo is the ruin of any idea of multi-ethnicity,” giving the example of Dragica Gasic from Djakovica. 

He told the portal that true multi-ethnicity has persisted precisely where the Serbs are the majority, so the multi-ethnicity of the Community of Serbian Municipalities is also realistic, unquestionable, and real.

Rakocevic: “Serbs have lived without freedom for 23 years”

“And this is, unfortunately, a process in which some of our environments become multi-ethnic under pressure and the ethnic structure changes, and where Albanians lived in most cases they still live today. It is not a problem that Albanians are sitting in a cafe in Gracanica and speak Albanian, but the problem is to find 10 kilometers from there, Serbs in a restaurant who will sit and speak Serbian. That is almost non-existent,” states Rakocevic. 

He adds that multi-ethnicity in Kosovo is maintained solely thanks to the international community and Belgrade.

When asked if the CSM will help the Serbs get the rights guaranteed by Ahtisaari’s plan, Rakocevic said that the promised rights cannot be discussed, but that the Serbs must immediately get the widest possible form of autonomy, because they lived without freedom for 23 years.

“You cannot offer far-reaching rights to someone who does not have freedom and force him to sign it, knowing that no document will be implemented that one decides that does not suit you. The CSM is something that could provide a minimum of freedom within the ghetto where Serbs live and what should protect our ghettos. But that must happen now and immediately, not by signatures and promises, because of which we live the way we do,” Rakocevic said. 

Gogic: “Kurti’s ethnic exclusivity”

For analyst Ognjen Gogic, Kurti’s statements about multi-ethnicity are cynical, contradictory, and unconvincing, so it is not clear whether he is guided by ethnic or civic principles in his politics.

Gogic told Kosovo Online that Kurti’s political platform is based on ethnic exclusivity when he advocates for the ethnic rights of Albanians and their right to unite in one large Albanian national state. But, according to Gogic, when rejecting the demands of the Serbs, he appeals to the civil principle.

“Kurti’s attitude towards this issue is very selective, and that’s why it sounds cynical when he says that Kosovo is multi-ethnic but then he himself says that over 90 percent are Albanians. Kurti cannot claim the right to Kosovo on an ethnic basis, and then do not give the rights to the Serbs on an ethnic basis in Kosovo,” Gogic pointed out. 

Gogic also pointed out that Kurti made different arguments to reject the CSM, claiming that it is mono-ethnic, but at the same time he is looking for the formation of similar associations in Serbia for Albanians or Bosniaks, according to the ethnic principle.

“He asks for something and rejects it with the same arguments, and it can’t work that way,” Gogic noted.

He also said that the “real” name is CSM – Community of Municipalities with a Serbian majority, which makes it clear that Serbs are not an exclusive minority in them, but that other peoples also live there.

“Northern Mitrovica, Strpce, Novo Brdo, Gracanica also have a significant percentage of Albanians and other minority communities, which means that, just as those municipalities are multi-ethnic, the Community would also be multi-ethnic, only that in its case there is a special focus on ensuring that through it the rights of the Serbian community is protected,” said Gogic, and reminded that according to Ahtisaari’s plan, 10 municipalities in Kosovo were defined as municipalities with a Serb majority.

Gogic also notes that Kurti ignores the fact that the largest number of municipalities in Kosovo are mono-ethnic, but only Albanians live in them and not only are there no Serbs, but there are also no other communities, Roma, Bosniaks, Turks…

“Kosovo has been completely ethnicized, so that he would now dispute the protection of Serbs on an ethnic basis,” underlined Gogic.

In practice, he says, the protection of minorities has not been achieved, because there is no will for it, while Kosovo’s institutions are weak and cannot guarantee the rights of Albanians, let alone Serbs.

“The ZSO would contribute a lot, and it is necessary, but not sufficient. In addition, it is important, and I remind you that Serbs also live outside Serbian municipalities, primarily in Metohija, and those municipalities would remain outside the CSM. They, even more so need protection, so that they would not be exposed to emigration and disappearance. That is why, in addition to the CSM, it is necessary to implement what has already been promised in the protection of their rights,” Gogic pointed out.