Zivkovic: UNMIK and OSCE usurped my property

(RTK2)

Milos Zivkovic from Prishtinë/Pristina claims that two hectares of his land have been usurped as of 2000.  During a press conference held in in Caglavica/Cagllavicë Media Centre, he mostly blamed the OSCE and UNMIK.

Zivkovic said that these organizations refuse to pay the compensation for the fifteen-year use of his property, which, as he claims can be verified in the cadastre where it clearly shows that he is the owner of the property since 1961.

“For them nothing is relevant, they continue to prohibit me from accessing the property. Regardless that UNMIK says that they have jurisdiction in that property, they have left  in private usurpers, and they usurped the entire space, including the one that the OSCE used and do not allow me to use it,” said Zivkovic.

Zivkovic’s lawyer said that UNMIK and OSCE are not the only usurpers, as, according to him, after their departure, five private companies appeared in the property.

“After them, this property is used by the following private companies: Tregtia, Labkom, BMS Trade, Max City, ZNT and alsoKosovo’s Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Veterinary Medicine,” said Zivkovic’s lawyer, Dorbica Lazic.

In a statement to RTK2, the OSCE said that this mission used the site in question under an UNMIK authorization from 2000 until March 2016, adding that based on the Resolution 1244 of the Security Council, after the arrival of the UN in Kosovo, this mission manages with the publicly and socially owned property, RTK2 reported.

“We are familiar with this case because Mr Zivkovic has made these claims since 2009. We have met Mr Zivkovic several times and we discussed about this topic. We informed him that it is a socially owned property and that he would have to follow appropriate procedures through Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on privatization matters in order to establish veracity of his claim to ownership. So far, Mr Zivkovic has not done so.

In 2008 we had a similar case in Pejë/Pec municipality in which we had a Kosovo Serb proving his ownership, and we compensated retroactively for the time we used his property, considering that he acted in in accordance with the procedures mentioned above.

To our knowledge, in the case of Milos Zivkovic, no lawsuit against the OSCE has been filed”, reads the statement of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.

However, Milos Zivkovic claims that on July 12, in the Basic Court in Prishtinë/Pristina, he filed a lawsuit against the OSCE, requesting compensation for the illegal use of his private parcel of 137 ares of land, which OSCE is avoiding.

Zivkovic adds that Ministry of Agriculture usurped over 11 ares of his land, while the remaining part has been usurped by five private enterprises.

Thaçi honours 14 Serbs killed Lipjan/Lipljan seventeen years ago

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)

On Wednesday, President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi laid a wreath at the memorial dedicated to fourteen Serb citizens, who were killed immediately after the conflict, seventeen years ago, in the village of Gracke, Lipjan/Lipljan municipality.

President Thaçi said that this criminal act was an act not only against the victims and their families but also an act against freedom and the democratic future of Kosovo. He said that all the crimes must be brought to light and must be punished.  He emphasized that light should be shed on the fate of all missing persons, whether they are Albanian, Serb, Roma or members of any other community.

KTV and Klan Kosova noted that Thaçi laid the wreath in a memorial plaque that calls the Serb victims of 23 July 1999 as “victims of Albanian terror”.

Kurti warns with the radicalization of actions against demarcation

(KTV)

Former Vetëvendosje Movement (VV) chairperson, Albin Kurti confirmed, during an interview with KTV’s show ‘Rubikon’ that VV representatives will attend the roundtable debate on demarcation issue with Montenegro, scheduled for 03 August.

He said that VV will use all means to prevent the ratification of the agreement on demarcation at Kosovo Assembly, emphasizing that they will be even more radical in their actions as they used to be in the previous months.

“Neither prison nor state bullets will stop us from preventing the demarcation,” Kurti said.

MEST recognizes diplomas issued by Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north University (KTV)

Regardless of the fact that Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North University is not accountable to the Kosovo Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), the latter is obliged to recognize the diplomas of this university, KTV reported.

MEST officials said that this initiative is being taken to facilitate the employment of students from this university in Kosovo institutions.  According to Faton Fetahu of MEST, Government of Kosovo has established a commission which will deal with the applications of students that have graduated from Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north University.

The parallel University of Prishtinë/Pristina in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north continues to work with the laws and curricula of Serbia, despite the fact that it is located within the territory of Kosovo, KTV reported. Six faculties operate within the university and their curriculum has never been accredited by Kosovo Accreditation Agency.

Delays in establishing the Academy of Justice

(KTV)

Passing the bar exam will not be anymore the only condition for those who want to work in the justice system, KTV reported.

In a near future, graduate jurists in Kosovo must also be part of the Academy of Justice and will be trained by this institution -for their future professions in judiciary. This decision was taken by the Government of Kosovo in March, but has not yet started to be implemented.

Through a written statement, officials of the Kosovo Ministry of Justice did not answered to the question of KTV if this institution will be established this year, but they admitted that the draft-law for the establishment of this institution is still being reviewed by the Assembly Legislation Committee.

Chairperson of this committee, Albulena Haxhiu recognizes the delays in this process and emphasizes that no progress has been marked since four months on this issue. However, she emphasized that she never agreed with the issue of trainings. Haxhiu says that the trainings should not be done after the candidates are appointed to their official positions but they should undergo trainings beforehand.

The chairman of the Bar Exam Commission, Fejzullah Hasani also says that he does not know when the Academy of Justice will be established. However, he emphasized that the bar exam will continue to be a key test for graduate jurists, while, according to him, the Academy of Justice will continue to be a legacy of Kosovo Judicial Institute but with broader competencies.

House of Lipjan/Lipljan Serb attacked

(RTK2)

On Wednesday, unidentified persons have thrown stones at the house of Boro Radovic from Lipjan/Ljiplane.

It is the second time that the Serb family is a target of unknown attackers, RTK2 reported.  No one has been injured during the attack while the case has been reported to Kosovo Police.