UNMIK Headlines 12 July
Kosovo Assembly passes amnesty law (dailies)
Members of Kosovo Assembly approved yesterday with 90 votes in favour the amnesty law with the draft undergoing no changes between two readings and being voted consecutively within one day. A part of the opposition said the way the law was adopted in a day shows the Government of Kosovo’s tendency not to change anything in its content. As a result, the law was passed without the article 3 that appeared in the first voting last week but still containing the disputed article 5 and not defining any territorial or time frame for crimes that will benefit from amnesty.
10,000 signatures to be collected against amnesty law (Koha Ditore)
Civil society is determined to continue opposing the newly-adopted amnesty law and it is now set to collect 10,000 signatures from citizens and submit the petition to Kosovo and international relevant institutions.
Shpend Kursani from the Kosovo-based KIPRED institute said the petition will initially be sent to the President of Kosovo and the Assembly. He said the petition will also be used to put pressure on EU member states’ representations in Kosovo. “Petition will also be delivered to European Parliament and other EU institutions in order to show how many citizens oppose this draft law and to inform them about its damage,” said Kursani adding that he believed the 10,000 signatures and more will be collected by Friday.
Government treats Mitrovica separately (Koha Ditore)
The Government of Kosovo has started to treat Mitrovica separately. Elections for the mayor there will be organized, even though the municipality of northern Mitrovica has not been established yet. The establishment will happen through a different procedure from that foreseen in the Law. Through a written response, the Ministry of Administration and Local Government informed for the first time the new manner of establishment of the municipality. “This municipality is considered established in the day of the certification of election results for the municipal bodies, by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kosovo,” says the response of the Ministry.
EC: SAA draft will be ready by next summer (Koha Ditore)
Senior officials of the European Commission, responsible for enlargement, have stated that the first SAA draft will be ready in summer of the next year. At the press conference after the meeting for the Stabilization Association Agreement, Deputy Director of the General Directorate for Enlargement of the European Commission, Joost Korte assessed positively the work of the Government of Kosovo in this process. “I will return in Brussels to discuss with the EU countries the set deadlines and then I will return here and set a plan with deadlines, together with Minister Çitaku. It will take a hard work to reach draft agreement by the summer of the next year,” said Korte.
Hoxhaj: Barricades will be removed before 3 November (Tribuna)
Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Enver Hoxhaj, stated in an interview for Jeta në Kosovë that the agreement for normalization of relations between the Republic of Kosovo and that of Serbia, will be implemented very soon. According to him, barricade on the bridge of River Ibër will be also removed, and with it, the parallel structures of Serbia which operated for 13 years in the north of Kosovo. Hoxhaj spoke in this interview also about the recognitions of the independence of Kosovo and stated that after the recognition from Egypt, Libya and other neighboring countries are also expected to recognize Kosovo.
Mustafa blocks LDK’s candidate for Pristina (Zëri)
The paper quotes sources as saying that the leader of Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Isa Mustafa, is not interested in running for another term in office as Pristina Mayor but at the same time is preventing other members of LDK from doing so. “We are disappointed as the president gives no sign of coming up and promoting a candidate nor is he saying he is interested for another mandate. His goal is to personally gain from any possible combination,” said an LDK official.
EULEX begins investigation on a suspected mass grave site (Koha Ditore)
EU rule of law mission teams launched investigations into a suspected mass grave site in Suhodoll i Epërm of Mitrovica. Excavations began yesterday morning but no human remains were recovered by the time the paper went to press. Representative of missing persons families in Mitrovica, Bajram Çerkini, said they suspect remains of 21 Albanians were buried at the site.