Government decides to transform KSF to armed forces
(All monitored broadcasters, KTV & RTK1)
The Government of Kosovo has decided transformation of Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) into Kosovo Armed Forces (KAF). It has also been decided that the Ministry of KSF be transformed to Ministry of Defence. This process will go through three stages, and it requires Constitutional changes as well.
According to Prime Minister Thaçi, this decision is in the interest of the Euro-Atlantic integration. On this occasion, Minister of KSF Agim Çeku said that the mission of the Kosovo Armed Forces will be protection of Kosovo’s sovereignty.
Commenting on this decision, members of the Assembly Security Committee said that the term army is mostly used by people and in daily speech in general, but many countries have their armed forces that in fact are armies of respective countries.
Meanwhile, the Assembly Security Committee proceeded to first reading the Draft Law on prevention of joining armed conflicts outside Kosovo territory.
On the other hand, the Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic stated that establishment of Kosovo Armed Forces was not part of the Brussels agreement.
“They had announced it earlier, but Serbia asked for insurance from NATO and KFOR that if the army is ever established, it may not be in north Kosovo without KFOR’s permission,” Dacic said.
Five persons arrested in Strpce/Shtërpcë
(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)
Five persons were arrested in Strpce/Shtërpcë on Tuesday, four of them being Kosovo Police (KP) members. From the search operation conducted by special KP unit ROSU at seven locations, including the Court, documents and a huge amount of weapons were confiscated.
The arrests are suspected of disclosing state secret, abusing position or authority, and carrying illegal weapons.
The Police confirmed that one of the arrests is chief of operation at Strpce/Shtërpcë police station and chief of Investigation Sector.
It is suspected that the arrests collaborated with MUP (Serbian Interior Ministry) members.
After interviews, the suspects were put in 48-hour detention.
Vulin banned entrance to Kosovo territory
(RTK2, TV21)
Visit to Kosovo was not banned to Serbian minister for Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin and Serbian minister for youth and sports Vanja Udovicic. They planned to award Serbian scholarships to Serb students in Kosovo.
In the meantime, Vulin considers that the goal of Kosovo Police’s arrests on Tuesday in Strpce/Shtërpcë was to disturb Serbs and force their displacement, RTK2 reported.
Civic Initiative Srpska also condemned Tuesday’s arrests in Strpce/Shtërpcë town.
Ivanovic enters hunger strike
(RTK2, Klan Kosova)
Oliver Ivanovic, who is kept in detention in Prishtinë/Pristina, has entered hunger strike, demanding to be transferred to the detention unit in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë.
The news was confirmed by Ivanovic’s lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic.
AAK initiates petition to bring down Government
(Most monitored broadcasters, RTK1)
Failing to collect necessary signatures for a confidence motion to bring down the Government, AAK as of Wednesday will start signing a petition, in order to call an Assembly meeting for bringing down the Government.
The AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj said that this was another way to bring down the Government.
Prishtinë/Pristina Basic Prosecutor’s Office facing shortage of staff
(Klan Kosova)
There are 62,000 backlogs at the Prishtinë/Pristina Basic Prosecutor’s Office, and only last year it received 23,000 new cases. There are only 27 prosecutors, which imply that each prosecutor has to deal with 2,300 cases. For this reason, Imer Beka, chief prosecutor, complains about shortage of staff. Besides prosecutors, Beka said that they needed another 30 professional associates.
According to Beka, despite complicated nature at work, no security at all is provided to prosecutors. He stated that only last year he raised 1,000 charges on serious crimes.
In addition, Beka is not happy with performance of courts outside Prishtinë/Pristina either. According to him, those courts are making symbolic judgments that are not appropriate to the offences.
