• Kosovo ex-president Hashim Thaci pleads not guilty to war crimes (BBC) 
• Albanians rally for ‘liberators’ outside Hague war crimes court (BIRN) 
• Police refute claims by SL that officers distressed woman in Zvecan (media) 
• Lajcak hosts Bislimi and Petkovic in Brussels today (Gazeta Express) 
• Vela reacts to Vucic, “attempts to destabilise institutions will be thwarted and stopped” (media)  
• Szunyog: European models for association don’t threaten Kosovo (teve1) 
• UN Special Rapporteur Khan meets media representatives (Klan Kosova) 
• Begaj decrees appointment of Vlora Hyseni as head of Intelligence Service (online media)
• Is EU running out of steam on Kosovo/Serbia? (EUObserver) 

Kosovo ex-president Hashim Thaci pleads not guilty to war crimes (BBC) 

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He went on trial on Monday with three co-defendants, accused of killing nearly 100 people and other atrocities including enforced disappearances.

The allegations date from Kosovo’s independence war against Serbia in 1998-99 in which more than 10,000 died.

Mr Thaci was co-founder of a group fighting for independence and is regarded as a hero in Kosovo.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was set up in the early 1990s as a militant group of ethnic Albanians, in what was then a province of Serbia, and during the war is alleged to have carried out attacks on the region’s ethnic Serb minority.

When Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, Mr Thaci became its first prime minister and later president, but resigned in 2020 to face the charges in The Hague.

Victims and human rights groups hope his trial – at a special court known as the Kosovo Specialist Chambers – will reveal what happened to some of the thousands of people who vanished during the Kosovo conflict.

According to the court’s indictment, the crimes took place in more than 100 locations in Kosovo and in northern Albania, where Serb civilians were allegedly detained and mistreated or murdered.

Read more at: https://bbc.in/40CU8Qr

Albanians rally for ‘liberators’ outside Hague war crimes court (BIRN) 

Hundreds of protesters from Kosovo and its ethnic Albanian diaspora gathered on Monday morning in front of the Hague-based Kosovo war crimes court to protest as four former leaders of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army – Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi – went on trial.

The four KLA leaders are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed between at least March 1998 and September 1999 in Kosovo and neighbouring Albania during and just after the war with Serbian forces.

“We refuse to have our history distorted,” one protester said when he took loud speaker in his hand to address the protest.

Tahir Citaku made a trip of more than 700 kilometres from the Swiss city of Basel to The Hague to protest against the trial.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3ZF05uL

Police refute claims by SL that officers distressed woman in Zvecan (media) 

Kosovo Police issued a press release on Monday in reaction to a video posted by the Serbian List which claimed that police officers in Zvecan distressed a woman who held a baby in her hands. The police press release notes: “During work at the checkpoint, around 21:45, a woman holding a child in her hands approached the police unit, based on the language she spoke it was concluded that she was a member of the Serb community, who asked the police officers questions as to why they are keeping the checkpoint, why they are stopping the vehicles, alleging that her husband went home concerned after passing through the police patrol with his car, etc. The police officers politely answered the woman, informing her that they are there to provide security and serve to all citizens/residents of Zvecan regardless and there are no complaints about the work, presence or behaviour of police officers and advised her that in case she has any complaint she can address at the police station or relevant institutions”.

Police also said that they did not stop the woman and that she approached them to communicate with them and recorded the scene that was later published. “Kosovo Police through its professional conduct remains committed to carrying out its duties and legal authorisations at the interest of maintaining law and order and providing security to all citizens regardless, and at the same time calls on all citizens that every case or request to address to police institution”.

Lajcak hosts Bislimi and Petkovic in Brussels today (Gazeta Express) 

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi and Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo chief Petar Petkovic will meet in Brussels today. The meeting will be chaired by EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak. The meeting will focus on the implementation annex of the agreement reached in Ohrid.

The EU meanwhile has called on Kosovo and Serbia to refrain from assessments that can ruin the atmosphere of the dialogue. The EU also said it hopes that what has happened in the last couple of days in Kosovo will not affect the meeting between the chief negotiators.

EU spokesperson Peter Stano said on Monday that they expect both parties to contribute to creating and upholding an atmosphere that will help normalisation and reconciliation and the need to implement the obligations that the parties have assumed. “The parties have agreed to refrain from any action that may have negative effects,” he said.

Stano also said that the meeting today is very important because the parties will be meeting for the first time since the Ohrid agreement and will discuss precisely on the steps that are needed to implement the obligations deriving from the agreement and the annex.

Vela reacts to Vucic, “attempts to destabilise institutions will be thwarted and stopped” (media)  

Chief of Staff to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Blerim Vela, took to Twitter on Monday to react to a statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic who said that “the normalisation of relations is not possible with the current government in Pristina”. Vela wrote in his reaction: “Vucic alludes that with different leadership in #Kosovo institutions he could achieve normalization. However, the time when who leads Kosovo institutions was determined by Belgrade has passed. Vucic’s and Radoicic’s attempts to destabilize Kosovo institutions will be thwarted and stopped.”

Szunyog: European models for association don’t threaten Kosovo (teve1) 

EU Head of Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, said in an interview with teve1 that Kosovo can look into different models of associations that are applied in various European countries and that Kosovo needs to focus on the implementation of the agreements reached in 2013 and 2015. “I think this is very clear. It certainly does not prevent anyone from looking into different European models and getting inspired how to specifically create the Association, its statute, but certainly we don’t expect these European models to be transplanted 100 percent in Kosovo,” he said.

Szunyog also said he is certain that the European models do not threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo.

UN Special Rapporteur Khan meets media representatives (Klan Kosova) 

UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, met media representatives on Monday in the premises of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo. Khan was welcomed by Association of Journalists of Kosovo Executive Director, Getoarbë Mulliqi Bojaj, media lawyer Flutura Kusari, and media representatives Besa Luci (Kosovo 2.0), Brikenda Rexhepi (Koha), Bojan Tomic (RTK2), Leart Hoxha (ATV), Serbeze Haxhiaj (RTK).

The meeting focused on the freedom and legal framework of the media, the safety of reporters, and the implementation of laws that impact the work of media and civil society.

Khan is also scheduled to meet representatives of civil society and international organisations.

At the end of her visit to Kosovo and Serbia, on April 6, in Belgrade, Khan will hold a press conference where she will talk about her first impressions. She will also present a comprehensive report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2024.

Begaj decrees appointment of Vlora Hyseni as head of Intelligence Service (online media)

The President of Albania Bajram Begaj has decreed the appointment of the Kosovo-born Vlora Hyseni at the head of the State Intelligence Service.  In February 2019, Hyseni was appointed deputy director of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA). After a few months, Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani dismissed her from all KIA functions. In 2021, she was appointed as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama.

Is EU running out of steam on Kosovo/Serbia? (EUObserver) 

Following a tense meeting last month in the city of Ohrid, in North Macedonia, the EU was able to narrowly squeeze out what it called the “implementation annex” to the broader agreement for normalisation of relations between the two adversaries of Kosovo and Serbia.

Although relatively light in content, the annex could represent the first steps to Serbia and Kosovo finally working more constructively together — if it is actually implemented.

And Kosovo PM Albin Kurti, at the same event. With the current approach, Brussels has wasted countless hours and funds with little to show for it (Photo: EU Commission)

So far, however, the two sides have shown little appetite for doing so. Almost immediately following the conclusion of the meeting with EU representative Josep Borrell, both sides began backtracking upon a number of promises made.

If the EU cannot bring the two together following its current approach, it must seriously consider modifying its relationship with the Balkan nations, even if this entails reconsidering the current membership prospects of Belgrade and Pristina.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3U5SXq2