Internationals want Tribunal by June, outside Kosovo (Koha Ditore)
According to international sources, the issue of establishing a Tribunal that would investigate and try suspected war crimes committed in Kosovo was discussed with authorities in Pristina. Furthermore, part of the international community believes that this judicial institution should be established by June, when the Special Task Force established for the investigation of suspicions raised from Dick Marty’s report, is expected to present its findings and eventually prepare an indictment.
“June is the deadline when Clint Williamson’s Task Force should finalise its work, so that he can raise the indictment according to Kosovo laws. When that time comes, a court should exist from which this indictment will be raised. And there was broad consent that this should not be done before a local court, but that a special one be created – and this will be the Tribunal,” said a senior international official.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi is against the idea or the establishment of a special Tribunal for Kosovo that will investigate and judge committed war crimes in Kosovo. In a statement for Kosovapress published on Sunday, Thaçi implicitly refused the idea, saying that Kosovo has its own institutions and there is no need for a Tribunal. Thaçi added: “I reemphasize, Kosovo has its legal justice institutions. We have an international presence; we could even say an entire international presence – EULEX, UN, KFOR. There are other mechanisms present, but we also have our functioning justice system.”
Elections, obstacle for implementation of Brussels agreement (Tribuna)
This year’s elections in Serbia and Kosovo are expected to slow down the implementation of agreements reached between the parties in Brussels. Although the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Catherine Ashton, is making efforts to set up another meeting between the prime ministers, Brussels does not see the current governments in Kosovo and Serbia as being fit to implement the three main points of the agreement: the functioning of the courts in the north, the establishment of the association of Serb municipalities and dissolving Serb illegal structures in the north.
Hoxhaj: Germany, Kosovo’s strategic partner (dailies)
Kosovo Minister of Foreign Affairs Enver Hoxha held a lecture on “Kosovo, Southeastern Europe and Germany” at the Southeastern Institute in Berlin. Hoxhaj spoke in front of numerous academics, politicians and distinguished personalities about the state building in Kosovo and Germany’s role on the European perspective of Southeastern countries. He stated that Kosovo’s main agenda is integration in the EU. “There are two moments that are the best indicators as to why Kosovo has very friendly relations with Germany. The first one sends us back to 1999, when Germany participated for the first time in a NATO military action against Serbia, in order to prevent genocide and massive expelling,” said Hoxhaj. He added that the other determining factor was when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Belgrade in 2011 and proposed for the first time that concrete steps on the normalisation of the relations between Kosovo and Serbia be taken.
Two Serb activists of Radical Party arrested in Gracanica (Tribuna)
Kosovo police arrested two members of the Serb Radical Party (SRS) in Gracanica as they were putting up their party posters in the municipality. The SRS called on the Government of Serbia to appeal for their release and enable the election campaign to take place “throughout the territory of Serbia.”
Missing Albanians declared dead (Zeri)
More than 350 missing persons before and during the last conflict in Kosovo, most of them from the village of Krushe e Vogel, have been declared dead from the Basic Court in Prizren after requests made by family members. The Public Information Officer of the Basic Court, Aferdita Kicaj, confirmed that one of the main reasons that lead to the family members’ requests is to resolve issues such as heritage, pensions, regulating marital status, and other family issues.
Kosovo police stopped in Zubin Potok (Zeri)
Kosovo police from the police station Mitrovica South were turned back in Gjuric, which is in the municipality of Zubin Potok, as they were not allowed to travel to Zubin Potok by a group of 50 Serbs blocking the road. The group blocked the Mitrovica–Zubin Potok road in Gjuric on Sunday and did not allow the movement of vehicles for more than half an hour. Source said that the purpose of the roadblock was to not allow Kosovo police investigators from the police station in the south to investigate one case in Zubin Potok. According to the sources, it is believed that information was leaked from the police, while only certain people in Zubin Potok were informed half an hour after receiving the order to go to Zubin Potok; the road was blocked afterwards. The newspaper has learned that, immediately after police investigators returned back, the Serbs opened up the road.
