Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti call with Scholz, asks for support for Council of Europe bid (media)
• Tahiri: Association is not a condition for CoE; govt must be careful (media)
• Muja: I believe Kosovo has met all conditions to become CoE member (EO)
• Statistics Agency: Serbs in north resist to register, those in the south not (RFE)
• Bislimi: We are always vigilant, always calculate worst possible scenario (media)
• Von Cramon: Reason for EU measures against Kosovo no longer exists (Kallxo)
• “EU must immediately lift measures against Kosovo” (Kosovapress)
• Kurti remembers 376 killed in Meja and buried in Batajnica mass grave (media)

Serbian Language Media: 

• Office for KiM says Kurti’s regime responsible for surge of violence against Serbs (media)
• Serbian List reacts to the latest incidents targeting Serbs (media)
• Kosovo Central Bank decision made lives of Serbs difficult (Blic, Kosovo Online)
• Arlov handed over scholarships to children from Kosovo at Jarinje crossing point (Kosovo Online)
• Elshani: Prosecution informed of audio recording with Radomirovic (Kosovo Online, Novosti)
• Chinese President Xi Jinping coming to Serbia in May (N1)
• Lawyer: Pristina needs to deliver autopsy report for Serbs killed in Banjska (Kosovo Online)

Opinion:

• Baerbock: Showing courageous responsibility for our Europe (media)

International:

• Kosovo-Serbia Declaration on Missing Persons Remains Unimplemented (BIRN)
• Slovenia President Backs Predecessor as New Kosovo-Serbia Envoy (BIRN)
• British man, 53, is ‘wrongly’ detained in ‘hellhole’ prison for war crimes dating back to 1999 after being rounded up by police while trying to cross over into Croatia (Daily Mail)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Petition launched for draft law on suicide prevention in Kosovo (RFE) 

Albanian Language Media  

Kurti call with Scholz, asks for support for Council of Europe bid (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on X today that he had a telephone call with German Chancellor Scholz and “expressed gratitude for Germany’s steadfast support for Kosovo and underscored the hope that Germany will support our Council of Europe bid in alignment with PACE recommendations”. Kurti also said that he reaffirmed Kosovo’s commitment for the full implementation of the Basic Agreement.

Tahiri: Association is not a condition for CoE; govt must be careful (media)

Head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) parliamentary group, Besnik Tahiri, told reporters today that the Kosovo government should be careful about attempts to present the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities as a condition for joining the Council of Europe. “What I can say is that the report of the rapporteur for Kosovo clearly notes that Kosovo has met all the requirements and that it needs to get the invitation in May. I think that Kosovo deserves to become a member of the Council of Europe. The Association [of Serb-majority municipalities] is not a condition in this respect. The government must be careful in this regard … I see that there is serious pressure on Kosovo about this topic. The Bakoyannis report does not condition Kosovo’s membership with the establishment of the Association,” Tahiri said after the meeting of the Kosovo Assembly presidency today.

Muja: I believe Kosovo has met all conditions to become CoE member (EO)

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Armend Muja, said today that following a proposal by opposition parties, the Kosovo Assembly on Thursday will discuss the latest U.S. State Department report on human rights practices in Kosovo. After that discussion, Muja said the MPs will vote on international agreements. “The value of these international agreements amounts to €390 million, and they were stopped because of the opposition,” he said.

Commenting on Kosovo’s eventual membership at the Council of Europe, Muja said he believes that “Kosovo has met all the conditions and that it will become the newest member of the Council of Europe on May 16”.

Muja also said that the Vetevendosje parliamentary group is working to secure the votes that are needed to pass the Civil Code. “The draft law came from the Ministry of Justice. The parliamentary majority is working to achieve consensus in the parliamentary group. For some time now we are working to secure the votes and another issue is that there are diverse opinions. The parliamentary majority has tried to secure votes for every law,” he said.

Statistics Agency: Serbs in north resist to register, those in the south not (RFE)

Head of the Kosovo Agency for Statistics, Avni Kastrati, told a press conference in Pristina today that Serbs in the northern municipalities are still resisting to register, but that the situation is not the same with Serbs living in the six municipalities south of Iber “where they are registering en masse”. Commenting on the non-participation of the northern Serbs in the population census, Kastrati said that last week they had discussions with several international institutions and that “they will surely convey what we said”. “They [Serbs in the north] should know that this [the census] is good for them, so that the number of citizens living in these municipalities is known. Non-participation in the census does not exist,” he said, calling on Serbs in the north to register.

On April 5, when the census started – the Serbian List, the main party of Serbs in Kosovo which is backed by Belgrade – said that Serbs would not take part in the process. Kastrati said that the call by the Serbian List is “against the law” and that the Agency for Statistics in the coming days will act according to law, without specifying the course of action. “This call had an impact in the north, whereas in the south the Serb community is registering en masse. The process of the registration of the population will move forward. If the community in that part [the north] will not take part, we will make our assessment in line with international standards,” he said.

Kastrati also said that the census is going according to plan. “Until yesterday, over 891,000 citizens of Kosovo have registered,” he said.

According to Kastrati, the preliminary data of the census could be published in the second half of June. “The data will be interesting and surprising, especially with regards to the structure of the population, and maybe even in terms of the average age,” he said.

Bislimi: We are always vigilant, always calculate worst possible scenario (media)

Several news websites cover an article by European Pravda, highlighting Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi’s remarks that “if you look at developments at the side of Serbia, you might always calculate with a potential conflict, and there are several elements that indicate that this could be possible. This means that we are always vigilant, we always calculate with the worst possible scenario, but we believe that the presence of KFOR, our NATO troops in Kosovo may deter these tensions from Serbia in the near future, but it is always possible”. The news website notes that Bislimi was referring to the events that took place in Banjska, a village in northern Kosovo, in September last year. It all started with a clash with the police that ended with one policeman being shot dead. The clash escalated into a counter-terrorism operation. The attackers – several dozen of them – took refuge in a nearby monastery. The Kosovo police were forced to abandon their assault because of the high risk of civilian casualties – there were many pilgrims in the monastery, in addition to local residents.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/3nw86bep

Von Cramon: Reason for EU measures against Kosovo no longer exists (Kallxo)

European Parliament’s Rapporteur for Kosovo, Viola von Cramon, said in an interview with the news website that she sees no reason for the European Union to keep its restrictive measures against Kosovo in place. She said that Kosovo has done its share of the work to de-escalate the situation in the north. “The reason for the restrictive measures no longer exists. Moreover, the measures in force are not proportional since September last year and the attack in Banjska. The European Union has clearly and with an overwhelming majority called for the measures to be lifted and I personally support the immediate lifting of the measures,” she said.

Von Cramon said that the ball is now in the hands of the EU. “As far as I am concerned, there is nothing more that the Kosovo side can do in this respect – the ball is now with the EU,” she said.

She also said that the April 21 referendum was a good opportunity for the Serb citizens to regain control over the local government but that they did not use it. “Processes in the north of Kosovo, since April last year, have been very damaging for mutual trust between the government and the local Serb community. This referendum was an opportunity for the Serbs to regain control over the local government, but this opportunity was lost, and I am very sorry about this,” she said.

“EU must immediately lift measures against Kosovo” (Kosovapress)

Representatives of the government and the opposition in Kosovo say that it is high time for the European Union to immediately lift the measures against Kosovo. They argue that despite the failure to dismiss the mayors of the four Serb-majority municipalities in the mayoral recall vote on April 21, Kosovo has met the pledges in the agreement reached with the EU in Bratislava to de-escalate the situation in the north.

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, Adnan Rrustemi, said in an interview with the news website that the EU should immediately lift the measures and not gradually. “Kosovo has met the pledge it made in the Bratislava agreement for preparing the legal basis to organize the process to remove the current mayors, based on a democratic process foreseen by law. We prepared the administrative instruction, we organized the process, the petition was administered but the boycott as a political action by the Serbian List ordered by Belgrade prevented the expression of the will of citizens. In relation with our international partners, we met our obligations, and we showed seriousness about our responsibilities. The EU must lift the measures against Kosovo and clarify its position toward Serbia,” he said.

MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Blerta Deliu-Kodra, too said the EU measures must be lifted, but also added that the Kosovo government needs to address the requests of the EU.

Kurti remembers 376 killed in Meja and buried in Batajnica mass grave (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on X on Saturday that “25 years ago, Serb forces killed 376 in Meja and hid the bodies in the Batajnica mass grave in Belgrade”. He said that the families of 1597 disappeared persons in Kosovo continue to wait in agony. “On the National Day of Forcibly Disappeared Persons, I call on Serbia to respect our 2023 agreement and open its archives,” Kurti wrote.

Serbian Language Media

Office for KiM says Kurti’s regime responsible for surge of violence against Serbs (media)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija reacting to the latest incidents in which two Serbs were beaten up in Bosniak Mahala in Mitrovica North on the night between Saturday and Sunday, and two days before it a group of Albanians attacked and robbed a young Serb man, in front of Sunce 3 building in this city, as well as to the arrest of Bosniak J.S. at Brnjak crossing point over alleged war crimes, said that “Albin Kurti’s extremist regime, whose policy of disenfranchising Serbs, from the cabinet in Pristina where it has been designed, spills over onto streets more and more, is responsible for the latest surge of violence”.

“To make things even worse, international sponsors of Pristina and Albin Kurti act as if everyday ethnically motivated violence is a normal and usual occurrence, given that any reaction was missing from the Quint in Pristina in relation to the latest series of attacks, but also to the arrest of J.S, for which no international community representative said anything or uttered a word of condemnation”, Serbian List said in a statement.

It added that however when in central Serbia, three Albanians were only held, and not arrested, there was no representative of Quint that did not call, protest, pressured and publicly react, which directly portraits double standards policy of the international community.

“For Quint, the Serbs have obviously become a legitimate target and violence against them is cosponsored by silence and lack of reaction by international representatives. More than 500 attacks against Serbs and their properties took place since Kurti came to the helm of Pristina provisional institutions of the self-government (…)”, Office for KiM said, adding that an attempt of systematic oppression and intimidation of the Serbian people was underway, and that those remaining silent to such violence and terror in the north of Kosovo send clear message about their intent and wishes.

Serbian List reacts to the latest incidents targeting Serbs (media)

With over 500 ethnically motivated attacks, Kosovo Prime Minister has set the standard “where violence against Serbs, international representatives and missions has become a normalcy, same as their silence”, Serbian List said in a statement, reacting to the latest attack against two Serbs in Bosniak Mahala in Mitrovica North and arrest of a Bosniak J.S, at Brnjak crossing point.

As the statement said, only a few days after the attack in which a young Serb man was beaten up and robbed in Mitrovica North, another two Serbian young men were beaten up in the Bosniak mahala settlement in the same town.

“Parallelly with this attack, a Bosniak J.S. was arrested at Brnjak crossing point for alleged war crimes, although his family, friends and all who know him confirm that J.S. has never been part of any war events, nor was he a member of armed or police forces”, Serbian List added.

They also said all these time there is no reaction from international representatives, while on the other hand they are more than ready, swift and agile to react if Albanians, who were part of war events in 1998 and 1999, were brought in for informative talk.

Serbian List said in relation to the statement of Kosovo police that surveillance cameras being installed recently in Mitrovica North should serve as a tool to fight crime, that in many cases there were witnesses and surveillance cameras, adding even if it happens that some Albanians get arrested they never get convicted, mentioning the case of two wounded Serb boys in Gotovusa village at Christmas Eve, and two shooting incidents at Bistrica bridge checkpoint manned by Kosovo special police in which two Serbs were wounded with firearms.

Kosovo Central Bank decision made lives of Serbs difficult (Blic, Kosovo Online)

Decision of Kosovo Central Bank on payment transactions, banning the use of dinar, has severely affected the lives of people living in Kosovo and receiving the payments from the Serbian budget, Blic daily writes. Mitrovica North residents told the daily that the ban on use of dinar represents a burning issue for them.

“As far as the decision to ban dinar is concerned, it is a disastrous decision. I can withdraw five thousand dinars on an ATM (approximately 43 euros) and that is the limit. How could one live with that money longer than two days? People are complaining, there are no medications, no groceries (originating from Serbia). You can’t live without money. I earned that money, I worked 46 years. The dinar must circulate in order to sustain. The one needing euros is buying them, but what will you buy euros with if you have no dinar?” residents of Mitrovica North said.

The ban on importing goods from Serbia is another problem

Advocacy Centre for Democratic Culture (ACDC) Program Director Aleksandar Rapajic said that Serbs and other non-Albanians are constantly faced with strong pressure because of the ban on the use of dinar.

“It is enough to walk through the town and see that every second business premise is empty and announced for renting, that those small businesses present the most in the north of Kosovo and representing the only economy here are slowly being shut down, not only because of dinar, but problem is also the ban on importing goods from Serbia, which was the advantage of those small shops. This has consequences: less employment, less possibility for young people to find jobs, so at the moment there is a strong economic pressure on citizens prevailing”, Rapajic said.

He termed the current security-political situation in the north of Kosovo as calm but tense. “It has become normal to have a bad political-security situation. We are getting used to being under tension constantly because of the presence of the Kosovo special police units. There is a strong fear and tension as to what will happen next”, he said.

Arlov handed over scholarships to children from Kosovo at Jarinje crossing point (Kosovo Online)

Momcilo Arlov, Chairman of the humanitarian NGO Committee for Helping Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, from Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, handed over on Friday morning scholarships to seven Serb students from Kosovo, in the amount of 2.800 euros at Jarinje crossing point, Kosovo Online portal reported.

The Committee with the support of donors from Republika Srpska (B&H), for eight years is providing scholarships to children from different places in Kosovo, and is helping socially vulnerable families, children and youth with disabilities as well as single parents.

For the last couple of years Arlov has been handing over donations at Jarinje and other administrative crossing points as he is banned by Pristina authority from entering Kosovo.

“I can not enter Kosovo and Metohija since June 26, 2020. It will be almost four years. They only let me in once. But I guess this will go away. What we do for Kosovo and Metohija will not stop”, Arlov siad.

Elshani: Prosecution informed of audio recording with Radomirovic (Kosovo Online, Novosti)

Kosovo police deputy commander for the region North, Veton Elshani told Novosti daily that prosecutor had been informed of audio recording in which deputy minister for communities and returns, Radojica Radomirovic and deputy minister of local-government administration Arben Vokrri are allegedly heard saying that they plan to transfer the papers of the buildings funded by the Serbian Government for socially vulnerable families and displaced persons in Leposavic municipality to Kosovo system, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“At the moment I can’t say anything. I do not know if the case is open or not”, Elshani said.

Asked if the law is evenly applied to all, or if Radomirovic as Kosovo deputy minister is protected, Elshani said that no one is protected.

“If there are elements for the case, the case will be opened. It is on us to inform the prosecutor, he decides further about that. When we heard the audio recording for the first time, we took it to the prosecutor, and as far as I know, the case has not been opened because there were no sufficient elements or something like that…. We as police heard it, and then took it to the prosecutor”, he added.

Novosti published audio recording earlier as it appeared on Telegram channel “Bunker” in which Radomirovic and Vokrri allegedly admit that the building was entered illegally, plan to transfer the papers in Kosovo system and legalize usurped property, respectively the building that was funded by Serbian Government for socially vulnerable families in Leposavic municipality, the portal added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping coming to Serbia in May (N1)

Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay an official visit to Serbia on May 7 and 8, said the Serbian president’s office. The Chinese leader will be hosted by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, it added.

President Xi visited Serbia in 2016 on what was the first trip to the country by a Chinese President in 32 years. Vucic and Xi met during a Belt and Road Forum in Beijing last October, when Serbia and China signed a FTA.

Announcing Xi’s visit, Vucic said the Chinese President was one of the most significant world leaders and a sincere friend of Serbia. The country wanted to welcome him in the best atmosphere and, as he added, the most beautiful possible way.

Lawyer: Pristina needs to deliver autopsy report for Serbs killed in Banjska (Kosovo Online)

Lawyer Milos Delevic said autopsy reports for the three Serbs, who died in Banjska during an armed incident in September last year, has not yet been submitted, adding Pristina side will have to do so when indictment is filed, given that it did not meet the other deadlines, Kosovo Online portal reported.

The article further writes that families of Serbs who died in Banjska – Stefan Nedeljkovic (31) from Zvecan, Igor Milenkovic (50) and Bojan Mijailovic (30) from Leposavic – have been waiting for the autopsy report for more than six months. Meanwhile, detention of the suspects for the armed incident in Banjska, who have been in custody since September 26, Vladimir Tolic, Blagoje Spasojevic and Dusan Maksimovic, has been extended for another two months.

“Tolic, Spasojevic and Maksimovic were remanded in custody for another two months. The investigation is ongoing, various expert reports are being conducted, and when they are completed, the Special Prosecutor’s Office will file an indictment. I asked the special prosecutor about the autopsy report, but it is not ready yet and it is not known when it will be”, Delevic told Novosti.

Although the Kosovo Law on Forensic Medicine stipulates that the forensic medical report on the autopsy findings should be completed within 15 days, and that in the case of additional analyses it can be extended up to 30 days or at the latest 60 days, all deadlines have been breached, the article further said. The autopsy was completed on September 30, when the bodies were handed over to the families, as the director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine Ditor Haliti confirmed at the time, the reports are not finished.

Meanwhile, Serbian officials were claiming that “Serbia has reliable information and evidence that  Kosovo police cold-bloodedly, brutally and viciously killed three Serbs in Banjska”. “According to their information, Mijailovic was viciously killed, after he was slightly wounded, fell to the ground and surrendered”, the article added.

Opinion

Baerbock: Showing courageous responsibility for our Europe (media)

Several news websites in Kosovo cover an op-ed by German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, which was originally published in several European media.

With the European anthem ringing in their ears and fireworks lighting up the night sky, complete strangers embraced each other. I joined hundreds of people back then, on 1 May 2004, on the Oder bridge between Frankfurt in eastern Germany and Słubice in western Poland in celebrating this special European moment. East and West were united in the European Union at long last. Around 75 million people in Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Cyprus became part of the EU family on that night. Our neighbors in Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia also joined them later on.

It was the courageous responsibility and vision of the people in the accession countries – from the Baltic region to the Mediterranean Sea – that made this great celebration possible back then. They had embarked upon the long and difficult road of reform and harmonization with determination.

For me as Germany’s Foreign Minister, 1 May reminds us that each generation has its task. The generations of our parents and grandparents recognised after the Second World War that reconciliation is the basis for a European community of peace. We Germans must never forget that especially we, who brought war and destruction to so many people, were thus able to find the path to peace and friendship. The generations before us created a European Union of freedom – for living, working and doing business – from the Atlantic up to the border with Russia.

Read more at: https://rb.gy/1jv2pk

International 

Kosovo-Serbia Declaration on Missing Persons Remains Unimplemented (BIRN)

The head of the Kosovo government’s Missing Persons Commission, Andin Hoti, said on Friday that he has received no response so far to his letters to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressing concern that a declaration made by Kosovo and Serbia last year, which was aimed at intensifying the search for the remaining wartime missing persons, isn’t being implemented yet.

Hoti, whose father Ukshin has been missing since the war, also claimed that he did not receive a response to a letter he sent to the Serbian authorities last June about opening up the archives of the Yugoslav Army’s 37th Yugoslav Army Motorised Brigade, which operated in Kosovo’s Drenica region and has been accused of involvement in war crimes.

He said he sent the letter within the framework of the declaration on missing persons made by Kosovo and Serbia as part of the Ohrid deal on normalisation of relations in April last year. The declaration was endorsed by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

“On June 1 [2023], I sent a letter to Vucic… for the implementation of the agreement… requesting the opening of the archives of the 37th Brigade from Drenica,” Hoti said.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/4p9rcbu6

Slovenia President Backs Predecessor as New Kosovo-Serbia Envoy (BIRN)

The President of Slovenia, Natasa Pirc Musar, told BIRN in an interview that her predecessor as president, Borut Pahor, is the right candidate to replace the outgoing EU special envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak.

“I am supporting him,” Pirc Musar said, adding that her country has often mistakenly not supported Slovenians for high positions in international organisations, and Pahor would be “a good candidate. His political experience of 17 years in the highest positions in my republic shows he is capable of holding such a position”.

“Slovenia is an ideal candidate for that [role], knowing the region, we know the mentality, the culture, because of the roots from the past and I can assure you that Slovenia never has a hidden agenda. That is our added value,” Pirc Musar said.

She said the fact that two top EU positions were held by two officials from countries not recognizing Kosovo – Lajcak from Slovakia and High Representative Josep Borrell from Spain “were in a way obstacles”.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/wrp5vwe5

British man, 53, is ‘wrongly’ detained in ‘hellhole’ prison for war crimes dating back to 1999 after being rounded up by police while trying to cross over into Croatia (Daily Mail)

Sadik Duraku’s family say he was in Britain in 1998 applying for asylum

A severely ill British man is being ‘wrongly’ detained in a ‘hellhole’ Serbian jail accused of war crimes after being held during a mass arrest at a border crossing, his family claim.

Sadik Duraku, 53, originally from the Kosovan village of Demjan, was held while driving over the border from Croatia at Batrovci to visit family last week.

He was hauled before the High Court for War Crimes in Belgrade and accused of membership of the Kosovan Liberation Army (KLA) and committing outrages during the 1999 war in Kosovo.

His family say that is impossible because he was in Britain applying for asylum by 1998 and did not leave the country again until 2004.

Critics have accused authoritarian Serbian president Aleksander Vucic of a political stunt amid rising tensions between his nationalist government and the autonomous region of Kosovo.

In a petition posted online, his daughter Suzana wrote: ‘One day after Kosovo took a step closer to becoming a member of the Council of Europe, Serbia detained hundreds of Kosovans and Albanians at the crossing of the Serbian border.

‘One of those victims was my father, Sadik Duraku, a British Citizen living in Brighton.

‘Whilst others have been released, my Father remains in custody.

‘He is being held on false claims that he was part of the Kosovo Liberation Army, UCK, in 1999, their claims state that he has committed War crimes during the alleged time in 1999’.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/bdzkfx8s

Humanitarian/Development

Petition launched for draft law on suicide prevention in Kosovo (RFE)

Several civil society organizations have started collecting signatures for a petition that will call for a draft law to be prepared for suicide prevention in Kosovo. The petition started today in Pristina and signatures will also be collected in the cities of Peja, Prizren and Gjakova. Bind Skeja, a representative of the civil society organizations, said they are asking for a draft law which would among other things include medical services for suicide prevention, integration of suicide prevention in institutional objectives, and mechanisms to increase the professionalism of media when reporting on cases of suicide. He also said that the draft law should also include non-clinical social services and support for people with suicidal thoughts, mechanisms to reduce the approach to self-harm inflicting means, specific programs for non-majority communities and mechanisms for suicide data collection.

Skeja argued that the institutional level does not provide any service for suicide prevention. “Everything that is offered are several days of involuntary psychiatric treatment, something that the UN deems as violation of human rights,” he said.

The news website notes that for the petition to be valid it needs to be signed by at least 10,000 citizens. “We are confident that with this petition we are starting an irreversible process of healing our community wounds,” Skeja said.