- Tariff will not be revoked without fulfilment of conditions, Limaj says (KTV)
- Negotiating Team without specific plan on victims of sexual violence (RTK1)
- Kosovo courts take over EULEX cases (KTV)
- Four hundred officials haven’t declared their assets, deadline on Monday (KTV)
- Ischinger says EU will keep its promise for enlargement in the Balkans (KTV)
- OSCE congratulates Koha Ditore on its 22nd anniversary (KTV)
News
Tariff will not be revoked without fulfilment of conditions, Limaj says
(KTV)
Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Limaj stated that Government of Kosovo will not revoke the tariff on Serbian goods, until Belgrade will reflect regarding this issue.
He told the public broadcaster that the tariff will not be revoked without fulfilment of conditions by Serbia.
“There are hundreds of reasons that have forced us to impose the tariff. The tariff will not be revoked without fulfilment of conditions. I believe this is clear to everyone. The tariff will not be revoked without fulfilment of conditions, the demands that Kosovo towards Serbia,” Limaj said, adding that he expects Serbia to reflect in this regard, KTV portal reported.
Otherwise, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has repeated several times that the tariff, imposed in November last year, will not be revoked until Serbia recognizes the state of Kosovo. For its part, Serbia has conditioned continuation of the Dialogue with revocation of the tariff.
Negotiating Team without specific plan on victims of sexual violence
(RTK1)
The Kosovo Negotiating Team still has no clue which mechanism will deal with the issue of victims of sexual violence. At least, this is what the opposition MPs say.
LDK MP Vjosa Osmani stated to KosovaPress that the Negotiating team has no plan whatsoever on how the request for reparation, or how their involvement in international mechanisms will be addressed.
According to Osmani, Kosovo needs a plan on reparations to be addressed to Serbia.
But co-chairman of the Negotiating Team Shpend Ahmeti promises that specific requests will be addressed to the Serbian side. However, although the dialogue conclusion phase is very near, such requirements have not been specified yet.
Ahmeti mentions various mechanisms where this category could be covered, but it is not yet known what the mechanism will be.
On the other hand, Ahmeti is convinced that no amnesty will be granted to perpetrators.
Feride Rushiti, Director of the Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims said to KosovaPress that victims of sexual violence were included in the Dialogue Platform late.
Rushiti listed the requests that her Centre has submitted to the Negotiating Team, concerning victims of sexual violence in negotiations with the Serbian side. According to her, it is not yet known whether this issue has ever been mentioned in Brussels, given that so far the dialogue has not been transparent to society. She wishes the Negotiating Team to seriously represent the voice of about 20,000 victims of sexual violence in the dialogue with Serbia.
Meanwhile, Professor Behlul Beqaj thinks that inclusion of war-emerging categories will legitimise them, so that they can insist against border correction.
Kosovo courts take over EULEX cases
(KTV)
The Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) in Kosovo, which monitors war crime trial proceedings, has welcomed the decision of justice authorities on functioning of the Department of War Crime Adjudication as part of the Work Strategy of the justice system.
Currently, alleged war crime cases are dealt with by a Hague-based Specialist Chambers, but it basically covers only alleged crimes committed by former KLA members against Serb and other civilians during 1998-1999.
On the other hand, the War Crimes Department in Kosovo is expected to deal also with other cases that might include Serb members who committed crimes against Albanians. However, it is believed that most of the persons who are suspected to have been involved in those crimes live in Serbia. Consequently, this makes work of the Department hard, bearing in mind the low cooperation between institutions in the two countries.
Amer Alija, HLC legal analyst and war crime trial monitor, told Radio Free Europe that since 2012, HLC has recommended that War Crimes Department should work within the framework of the Kosovo judicial system.
Prosecutor Sylë Hoxha, in charge of media communication from the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office, said that in the strategic and prosecutorial plan, it has been decided to establish the War Crime Department.
Four hundred officials haven’t declared their assets, deadline on Monday
(KTV)
Out of 4,700 senior public officials who are obliged to declare their assets at the Anticorruption Agency, so far about 4300 officials have done so.
According to the Anticorruption Agency, the deadline is set pursuant to the Law on General Administrative Procedure.
Afrim Atashi, Director of the Department for Asset Declaration, told KosovaPress that the deadline for asset declaration is on Monday, 1st April.
Although he did not tell how many senior public officials still have not submitted their forms, Atashi said that the list of those officials who have not yet declared their assets would be published in three days.
Ischinger says EU will keep its promise for enlargement in the Balkans
(KTV)
German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger stated that the EU membership perspective of countries of the region should be open.
In a statement to Serbian media, he expressed confidence that the enlargement process should continue.
The German diplomat, who was engaged in the Balkans through the “Troika” to find a solution to the Kosovo issue, stated that the EU should keep up the promise it had made in Thessaloniki years ago.
OSCE congratulates Koha Ditore on its 22nd anniversary
(KTV)
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has congratulated Koha Ditore on the 22nd anniversary of its first edition.
On a Twitter post, they thanked the newspaper for promoting freedom of speech and professional journalism.
“Congratulations Koha Ditore! Thank you for being our partner in promoting freedom of speech and professional journalism,” the post reads.
