EU: No indictments this year (Zeri)
European Union officials told the paper on Wednesday that the first indictments for the former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters will be filed in 2016, the paper reports on page three. According to EU officials, until 2016 work will be done in establishing the necessary infrastructure to launch the proceedings. They also said that during this phase, judges and staff will be selected for the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.
Vehicle insurance accord to start implementation on 12 August (Kosova Sot)
The technical teams of Kosovo and Serbia agreed during yesterday’s meeting in Brussels that the agreement on vehicle insurance would start being implemented on 12 August. “This agreement contributes to the improvement of free movement for the people of both Kosovo and Serbia and is in accordance with European standards for free movement,” said a press release issued by the Kosovo team.
Armed Forces in a package with Association/Community (Zeri)
The paper reports on its front page that the only opportunity for the establishment of the Kosovo Armed Forces (KAF) is for it to be conditioned with the formation of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities and the two draft-laws to be approved in a package. Otherwise, according to the paper, the establishment of the KAF will be difficult since the coalition partners have failed to convince the Serbian List to support it. Unnamed sources told the paper that even the internationals are seeing this as the best option to secure the votes of the Serbian List.
Serwer: Special court could fail too (dailies)
Several dailies run an opinion piece by a US analyst on the Balkans, Daniel Serwer, following the Kosovo Assembly’s adoption of the constitutional amendments for the formation of the special court. “My one fear about this new court, whose creation has to be counted as a big step forward, is that it may fail like other international justice efforts to hold perpetrators accountable. Bringing people to trial for crimes allegedly committed 15 or 16 year ago is challenging. Evidence goes missing or is destroyed, witnesses become unavailable or unwilling, memories fade. The organ-trafficking allegations will be particularly difficult to prove. Perhaps the single biggest challenge in Kosovo is intimidation: I wouldn’t want to live in a country of less than 2 million people where most of the population would consider me a traitor. Testifying means a lifetime in exile in some other country’s witness protection program. So I do hope the internationals understand the big responsibilities they have taken on with the creation of this Special Court: assembling airtight cases from aging evidence and testimony, conducting trials expeditiously and transparently, convincing not only the accused but two whole countries that the process is fair and unbiased, avoiding the besmirching of reputations without ample proof, assigning responsibility in a way that avoids harming innocent people. That’s not easy,” Serwer writes.
“There may have been violations in adoption of special court” (Epoka/Zeri)
The paper quotes experts on constitutional matters, Mazllum Baraliu and Xhavit Shala, as saying that opposition parties are entitled to have their doubts on the approval of the special court at the Assembly and to address the Constitutional Court on the matter. Both experts acknowledged that there may have been procedural violations during the process. However, they say the opposition’s effort is unlikely to succeed. The paper further notes that even civil society representatives view with scepticism the opposition’s initiative to send the matter to the Constitutional Court.
Government adopts initiative on Montenegro border demarcation (Epoka)
The government of Kosovo adopted on Wednesday the initiative for the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro. Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Hashim Thaci, said that this agreement improves the bilateral relations between Kosovo and Montenegro. According to him, through this agreement, Kosovo confirms its commitment to contribute to the promotion of good neighborly relations.
