Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Skip to main content

UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, October 11, 2023

Albanian Language Media:

  • Police carries out raids in three different locations related to Banjska attack (Koha)
  • Kosovo Police supplied with drones from the United States (Koha)
  • Stoltenberg: Important to increase number of KFOR troops (Koha)
  • Slovenia too to send additional troops to Kosovo (AP)
  • Special prosecution orders release of Serb arrested on Tuesday for war crimes (AP)
  • Bislimi: Aggression in Banjska can undo entire progress in dialogue (EO/Express)
  • Kulla claims he has “information that Banjska can be repeated, south or east” (Express)
  • Hysa: Weight of attack in north as a failed aggression is growing after events in Nagorno-Karabakh and Israel (media)
  • Mujanovic: “Attack in Banjska was attack by Serbian state; dialogue is over” (Telegrafi)
  • EU says measures against Kosovo remain in force (EO)
  • Tahiri: Surprised by U.S., because EU needs months to decide (Express)
  • Serbian opposition to Borrell: Vucic not Serbia must be sanctioned for Banjska (Kallxo)

Serbian Language Media:

  • Vucic, Munsch discuss worsening of situation of Kosovo Serbs (Tanjug)
  • Office for KiM: International community to prevent Kurti from causing new crisis, inflaming region (media)
  • Kosovo police brought in Serb from Leposavic at Bistrica bridge over photo with weapons (KoSSev, Kosovo Online)
  • Gracanica: Post Office and Commercial Bank without money (Radio KIM, KoSSev)
  • Serb arrested under war crimes allegations at Merdare yesterday released (KoSSev, media)
  • Szunyog meets Bishop Teodosije, says SOC has an important role in reconciliation process in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, social media)
  • NATO chief says increased presence in Kosovo important (N1)
  • Mojsilovic receives China's new ambassador (Tanjug)

International:

  • NATO equips peacekeeping force in Kosovo with heavier armament to have “combat power” (AP)
  • ‘A climate of violence’: Serbian football ultras in spotlight after Kosovo monastery siege (The Guardian)
  • Serbian Journalist Testifies About Wartime Detention by Kosovo Fighters (Balkan Insight)

Humanitarian/Development:

  • Osmani on Intl Day of Girl Child: We must amplify their voices and aspirations (media)

 

 

Albanian Language Media  

 

Police carries out raids in three different locations related to Banjska attack (Koha)

Kosovo Police are carrying out raids in three different locations in the north of Kosovo today related to the Banjska case, deputy police director for the north, Veton Elshani confirmed to the news website. The raids are happening in Mitrovica North and Zvecan. There is no confirmation if the locations that are being raided are linked to Milan Radoicic, former deputy leader of the Serbian List who claimed responsibility for the September 24th attack on Kosovo Police.

Kosovo Police supplied with drones from the United States (Koha)

Kosovo Police and the Police Inspectorate have received a donation of seven drones from the United States of America in a ceremony held today. Police Director Gazmend Hoxha thanked the U.S. for the donation and support “especially in the days when we lost one of our sergeants”. He said that the donation from the U.S. is exceptionally needed and valuable. “It will help the further capacity building of the Police. It will also help with monitoring the borders and investigations. These are drones and equipment that were selected by experts of the Kosovo Police. I can guarantee the ambassador [Hovenier] that the Police will use all these equipment for legal purposes and to ensure more qualitative services for all citizens,” he added.

Hovenier said that the drones are “a crucial source for law enforcement agencies in Kosovo”. “They provide monitoring and tactical support for police missions,” he said, adding that they can also be used to fight the trafficking of immigrants, narcotics and others. Hovenier also said that the donation is proof of the U.S. continued support for Kosovo.

Stoltenberg: Important to increase number of KFOR troops (Koha)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said today it was important to increase the number of KFOR troops after increased tensions in Kosovo. “We have seen an increase in tensions, therefore, it is important for NATO to step up its presence in Kosovo,” Stoltenberg told reporters before the two-day summit of NATO ministers in Brussels.

Slovenia too to send additional troops to Kosovo (AP)

Following the UK and Romania, Slovenia too is expected to increase the number of its troops in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR. Slovenian Defence Minister Marjan Sarec said that there are currently 90 members of the Slovenian army serving in KFOR and that this number is expected to reach at least 100. “The Western Balkans is certainly a priority for Slovenia, and this is why we are stepping up our presence there,” Sarec said.

Special prosecution orders release of Serb arrested on Tuesday for war crimes (AP)

The Special Prosecution of Kosovo today has ordered the immediate release of a Serb who was stopped by Kosovo Police on Tuesday under the suspicion that he had committed war crimes against civilians in 1998/99. The person was released after the prosecutor ruled that there is no legal basis to order a detention.

Bislimi: Aggression in Banjska can undo entire progress in dialogue (EO/Express)

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator in the dialogue in Brussels, Besnik Bislimi, said today that “Serbia has capacities to destabilise Kosovo and the Western Balkans” and that the weapons used during the September 24th attack in Banjska cannot be bought everywhere. He argued that “criminal groups are a branch of the state to do the dirty work”, Ekonomia Online reports.

Bislimi said during a conference in Pristina about the attack in Banjska and regional and geopolitical implications that “Banjska can be used for a study case. The act of aggression has raised concerns in the region and the EU because this kind of act can undo the entire progress that Kosovo and Serbia have made through the dialogue. The main concern is the power that state actors have in providing wrong information about the hybrid war that Serbia has been using the last couple of years. This has managed to consolidate the position of Serbian criminals like Milosevic and others. They mention an alleged terror by Kurti, the theory of conflict differs from those that incite it, and Vucic complements this. His existence is dependent on the conflict. Vucic denied that a vehicle full of weapons was stopped shortly before the attack in Banjska, but the September 24th attack unmasked this and showed that Vucic and Radoicic are behind these acts”.

Gazeta Express quotes Bislimi as saying that “Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is already threatening the Kosovo Serbs by telling them that they will have the same as Oluja or that they will have to leave on trucks and tractors soon”. He argued that for Kosovo it is very important to relax its Serb citizens because Vucic’s claims are not true. Bislimi also said that Kosovo is interested only in the integration of Serbs and that it does not undertake any action that would make them feel threatened.

Kulla claims he has “information that Banjska can be repeated, south or east” (Express)

Tirana-based security expert, Ilir Kulla, said in an interview with T7 on Tuesday evening that he has information that the events in Banjska can be repeated in the southern or eastern part of Kosovo. “The weapons are there, the politics is there, and you may think that it will not happen in the north, but the information that I have, and western sources are telling me that there are efforts for this to happen in the south or eastern part of Kosovo,” Kulla said. “I have references that there are efforts to destabilize the enclaves and then blame the Albanians for an alleged religious war in monasteries or against pilgrims, or an alleged war in the region or alleged ethnic cleansing”.

Kulla also said “when I said a year and a half ago that you need arms and to protect yourself, they were calling me a political speculator, but now that it happened [Banjska] no one mentions it. I am saying that those that tried it once will try again and again. Why didn’t the government of Serbia hand over Radoicic to EULEX or KFOR?”

Hysa: Weight of attack in north as a failed aggression is growing after events in Nagorno-Karabakh and Israel (media)

Kosovo historian and former diplomat Ylber Hysa said in an interview with ABC News Albania said that the weight of the attack in the north of Kosovo as a failed aggression is now growing after the events in Nagorno-Karabakh and Israel, and that this cannot be avoided when considering the continuation of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. “If Banjska would have happened if there was progress in the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade is a very hypothetical question given also the geopolitical context that unfolded these days with what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh and also with what is unfortunately happening in Israel,” he said.

Hysa also argued that what happened in Banjska cannot be justified and that “in fact it was a classic aggression, a terrorist act, which included an organisation and a structure that mobilised a paramilitary unit that had weapons for a brigade, and which was stopped as a result of the specialised intervention of the Kosovo Police”.

“Another equally hypothetical question would be what if the action of the group led by Radoicic would have been successful. Would this mean a new frontline in Europe? Would this mean that someone, be it in Belgrade or Moscow, managed at a time of an almost global war to open another frontline for the west behind their backs? As is perhaps happening in Israel. So this question is as hypothetical as the response to the second”.

Hysa said there is room to discuss how the EU-facilitated dialogue will continue after the new circumstances following the attack in Banjska. “As far as the pressure to continue the dialogue is concerned, we have seen the latest position by the U.S. Ambassador Hovenier, who calls for a return to the dialogue. But to keep in mind that the Association of Serb-majority municipalities must not have executive competencies. This seems like a kind of novelty, but we will have to wait and see if there will be pressure on the parties also because of the fact that this conduct also involve the question whether there will be direct or indirect involvement by Serbia with its structures in the north of Kosovo, it also brings about the question if there will be sanctions against Serbia, which is the first question and we are seeing that Brussels, especially one part of it, is not so principled. We have heard Hungarian Foreign Minister Siarto who wants to block any kind of sanctions against Serbia,” he is quoted as saying.

Hysa also said that “more important will be the result of investigations into the Serb paramilitary group that carried out the incursion and terrorist attack in the north of Kosovo. It will be exceptionally important if not the most important following the events in the Caucasus and Israel … Another important issue is the issue of Milan Radoicic. Everyone in the highest structures of NATO, Washington and Brussels, wants an investigation into what happened. I believe that after the latest events in Nagorno-Karabakh and especially the dramatic developments in Israel, the weight of finding out what was the motive and who was behind the attack in the north has grown bigger than before”.

Mujanovic: “Attack in Banjska was attack by Serbian state; dialogue is over” (Telegrafi)

Political scientist from the University of York, Jasmin Mujanovic, commenting on the September 24 attack in Banjska near Zvecan, said today he is not sure if the attack should be described as a terrorist attack. “It is clear that the attackers in Banjska were an ally of the Serbian security apparatus. This is an attack by the Serbian state, not an attack by terrorists,” he said in a conference in Pristina today. 

According to Mujanovic, what happened in Banjska was “a step to create a Republika Srpska” in the north of Kosovo. He further argued that the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is now over. “The dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, the way we have seen it until now, is over because Serbia’s objective was revealed and it is apparent that Serbia used violence to change its political objectives,” he said.

Mujanovic said he does not believe there will be sanctions against Belgrade and that “the time is to seriously address this issue”. He argued that there should be progress in formal and informal relations between Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We must not allow Dodik and Radoicic to prevent democratic elements for more coordination between Kosovo and Sarajevo,” he said.

Mujanovic also said that the five non-recognizing EU member states should stop giving diplomatic support to Belgrade and Moscow.

In a post on X earlier Mujanovic wrote that “my overwhelming impression from the past week of conversation with experts, journalists and officials in Montenegro and Kosovo is that the Vucic regime is the existential security threat facing the Western Balkans.”

EU says measures against Kosovo remain in force (EO)

EU spokesperson Peter Stano said today that the measures against Kosovo will remain in force as the member states have not yet seen sufficient steps for Kosovo toward full de-escalation in the north.

“The measures on Kosovo were a direct reaction to the escalation that happened or the lack of de-escalation. I am not talking about September 24, but about the period before that. Member states have not yet seen sufficient steps from Kosovo for full de-escalation, and therefore, the measures are still in force,” he said.

Stano said that the EU is an honest facilitator in the dialogue and is trying to help the parties reach a consensus. “We have repeated this many times, there is nothing more to add to this. The path toward the EU for Kosovo and Serbia goes inevitably through the EU-facilitated dialogue. There is no other path. Both parties must understand that the dialogue must continue and the parties must cooperate by reaching a necessary compromise to normalise their relations,” he said.

Stano did not say if there is a package of measures against Serbia after the attack in Banjska, but said they are waiting for a full investigation. “As far as the investigation is concerned, I must repeat what I have said several times now and that is that we are waiting for the final result of a full investigation. When the investigations are complete and the EU has the results and a clear picture of what happened and who is behind it, then the member states will decide on further steps,” Stano said.

Tahiri: Surprised by U.S., because EU needs months to decide (Express)

Kosovo’s former chief negotiator with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, said in a Facebook post today that “the irritating rhetoric of international partners about investigations into the Banjska event is continuing while Serbia has not been punished yet”. According to Tahiri “the whole delay is meaningless given all the technological advancement, satellite footage, and artificial intelligence!”. She argues that she is “surprised by the United States because as far as the EU is concerned it takes months for it to make a decision due to the lack of unity in foreign policy! This is not only irritating but dangerous too.”

Serbian opposition to Borrell: Vucic not Serbia must be sanctioned for Banjska (Kallxo)

The news website reports that opposition parties in Serbia have sent a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, expressing concern about the September 24 attack in Banjska near Zvecan and saying that the EU should impose sanctions against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and not against Serbia. Opposition representatives argued in their letter that those responsible for the tense situation are Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti. “Aleksandar Vucic and his regime hold a considerable part of political and other responsibilities for the events in Banjska,” the letter notes. They also argued that imposing sanctions against Serbia would further increase Euro-scepticism in the country. “We are deeply concerned about reports on possible sanctions against Serbia. We want to stress that as the democratic opposition in Serbia we are deeply against this,” they said. “Any hostile action that affects Serbia and its people would only further threaten our country and the region, it would further the existing Euro-scepticism and the dangerous nationalistic narrative and would return to Serbia the image of the 1990s. On the other hand, the political and personal responsibility of Aleksandar Vucic about the current situation is apparent. Therefore, he and his closest political allies should be given every possible measure.”

 

 

Serbian Language Media

 

Vucic, Munsch discuss worsening of situation of Kosovo Serbs (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with the commander of the NATO Joint Force Command in Naples, Adm Stuart Munsch, in Belgrade on Wednesday and voiced grave concern over a drastic worsening of the already difficult situation of the Serb community in Kosovo, Tanjug news agency reports.

Vucic said Serbia expected KFOR to maintain a neutral position and act proactively to prevent any deterioration of the security situation on the ground.

In a post on his official Instagram account, Vucic wrote that he had had a "good and open discussion" with Munsch in which they had exchanged views on the current security situations in the Western Balkans and the Middle East.

"I voiced grave concern over a drastic worsening of the already difficult situation of the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija and reiterated that Serbia supports KFOR engagement in strict, full and unbiased performance of its mandate based on UNSC Resolution 1244, as well as that we expect KFOR to maintain a status neutral position and act proactively with a view to preventing any deterioration of the security situation on the ground", Vucic wrote in the post.

Office for KiM: International community to prevent Kurti from causing new crisis, inflaming region (media)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija said that Kosovo police, as instructed by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti “continues with arrests and mistreatment of Serbs aiming at raising tensions and provoking a new crisis in the north” and urged the international community to react and enable Serbian population in Kosovo normal lives, Kosovo Online portal reported. It also said Pristina authorities should be prevented from inflaming Kosovo, but also the region.

“(Albin) Kurti’s so-called Kosovo police whose only goal and task is to terrorize Serbian people in the north of Kosovo and Metohija continued today with mistreatments and arrests of Serbs in northern municipalities and torture with the only aim of raising tensions and new crisis on the ground. First in the village near Leposavic, a Serb M.M. was arrested in presence of his wife and five children, then his apartment was searched in detail in presence of Kosovo special police forces. In accordance with the same scenario and order, Kurti’s special police officers started raids in several private premises in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, both in Kosovska Mitrovica near the hospital, and in Zvecan”, reads the statement.

The Office also asked international community representatives in Kosovo do the Serbs have the right to normal everyday life, without terror and intimidation by Kosovo police, reads the statement.

Office also accused Kurti of wishing to use tragic events in Banjska for, as they said, persecution, retaliation, torture and arbitrary arrests of Serbs with the goal of ethnically cleansing the north of Kosovo in front of an entire international community.

“Tragic events in Banjska cannot and must not be excuse to abolish all human rights to the Serbian people in the north of Kosovo, that they become hostages of a criminal Kurti’s regime which draws targets on the forehead of anyone with Serbian name and surname, and that the West and international missions present in Kosovo during those time turn blind eye to the sufferings and persecution of the Serbs”, statement said. 

Kosovo police brought in Serb from Leposavic at Bistrica bridge over photo with weapons (KoSSev, Kosovo Online)

Kosovo police have brought in a Serb M.M. from Leposavic at Bistrica bridge because of the photo he posted on social media in which alleged weapons are seen, KoSSev portal reports.

In a photo on Facebook he is allegedly seen with an automatic rifle. Veton Elshani, Kosovo police deputy commander for the region North, told the portal that it is being determined currently if this person possesses weapons from the photo.

“There is a raid in his house at this moment, respectively the search for the weapons from the photo”, Elsahni said, adding it would be known what steps will be taken next following the search. 

M.M. father of five children lives with his family in part of the town called Leposavsko Polje. His wife told Kosovo Online portal that the police during the search of the house told her to move children away. She also said she doesn't know what year the post on Facebook comes from and that the police told her her husband will only give a statement to the police. The neighbours of the affected family said this event deeply disturbed them.

Meanwhile, Elshani also said that no weapons from the photograph were found in the house of M.M. 

Head of UNMIK spoke with Clinical Hospital Centre Director in Mitrovica North (KoSSev, Kosovo Online)

Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) and Head of UNMIK Caroline Ziadeh visited Mitrovica North today and on this occasion held a meeting with the Director of the Clinical Hospital Centre there, doctor Zlatan Elek, KoSSev portal reported. 

As KoSSev portal further said Ziadeh will have meetings with the civil society in the southern part of the city.

In a meeting that lasted more than one hour, Ziadeh spoke with Elek about challenges that this institution faced in Mitrovica North, Kosovo Online portal reports.

Mitrovica North hospital officials, as the portal said, informed Ziadeh of the situation related to the lack of almost all medications, as well as lack of oxygen and the difficulties that patients of this health facility are facing.

They also requested stronger engagement of the international missions in order that the hospital in Mitrovica North is supplied with medications and materials necessary for treatment of the patients.

Gracanica: Post Office and Commercial Bank without money (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

For several days there are no Serbian dinars (RSD) available in the Post Office and Commercial Bank in Gracanica, Radio KIM reports. Several residents of Gracanica told Radio KIM that over the last few days they can not withdraw the money in the Commercial Bank and Post Office which function in the system of the Republic of Serbia.

This information was also confirmed by sources in the post office, who told Radio KIM that for five days there is no money available and that they only pay the money to the clients in cases when some of the citizens make payments.

Pensioners should receive their pensions those days as well, however, the payment is not possible because the money can not reach Gracanica given that Jarinje crossing point still remains closed to entry from central Serbia.

Pristina authorities closed the two crossing points in the north, Brnjak and Jarinje on September 24, following the armed incident in the village of Banjska in the north. In the meantime Brnjak had been open to entry from central Serbia, however, the second crossing point of Jarinje continued being closed.

There is no information from Kosovo police yet as to when this crossing point will be fully opened.

As people told KoSSev portal the situation in Mitrovica North with those two institutions is slightly different. The ATMs are not functional and the money cannot be withdrawn from them, however it is possible to withdraw the money inside the banks.

The main office of Postanska Stedionica Bank still has the money, both at the ATM and inside the bank in Mitrovica North. 

Serb arrested under war crimes allegations at Merdare yesterday released (KoSSev, media)

Serb from Priluzje T.B. arrested at Merdare crossing point by Kosovo police yesterday under war crimes allegations had been released, KoSSev portal reports.

As the Specialist Prosecution said, upon deliberating on the criminal reports of the war crimes investigation unit, it was assessed that there were no legal grounds to assign detention measures to T.B.

By decision of the prosecutor he had been released immediately. 

Szunyog meets Bishop Teodosije, says SOC has an important role in reconciliation process in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, social media)

Head of the EU Office in Pristina, Tomas Szunyog spoke today with the Serbian Orthodox Church Raska-Prizren Eparchy Bishop Teodosije on the issues related to the Church, Kosovo Online portal reports.

“Exchanged views with Bishop Teodosije on issues related to the Serbian Orthodox Church in #Kosovo. I stressed the important role they can play, together with other religious communities, in Kosovo’s reconciliation process and in fostering inter-communal harmony”, Szunyog wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). 

NATO chief says increased presence in Kosovo important (N1)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that it’s important that the Alliance increased its presence in Kosovo, N1 reports.

“We have seen new increased tensions there, so it’s important that NATO has increased its presence in Kosovo”, Stoltenberg told reporters before the start of the NATO Défense Ministers meeting in Brussels.

The Alliance Défense Ministers will discuss, among other things, NATO’s missions and operations, including in Kosovo.

Mojsilovic receives China's new ambassador (Tanjug)

Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Gen Milan Mojsilovic received China's newly-appointed Ambassador to Belgrade Li Ming on Tuesday to discuss advancement of overall cooperation between the two countries.

Welcoming Li, Mojsilovic said he believed the ambassador's diplomatic experience and personal efforts would lend an impetus to advancement of the traditionally good relations between the two countries, the Serbian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The parties agreed there was a shared interest in further stepping up defence cooperation and said they believed the cooperation would help strengthen overall Serbia-China relations.

Li noted that he was honoured to be representing his country in Serbia and reiterated that China strongly supported the territorial integrity and economic development of Serbia, its important partner in this part of the world.

 

 

International 

 

NATO equips peacekeeping force in Kosovo with heavier armament to have “combat power” (AP)

NATO top commander said Tuesday the alliance equipped its peacekeeping force in Kosovo with weapons of “combat power” following a recent shootout between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police that left four people dead and sent tensions soaring in the region.

Adm. Stuart B. Munsch of the Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Italy said that a battalion of some 200 troops from the United Kingdom and 100 others from Romania “is bringing heavier armament in order to have combat power to” the NATO-led Kosovo Force, or KFOR, but didn’t elaborate further.

The KFOR peacekeepers — made up of around 4,500 troops from 27 nations — have been in Kosovo since June 1999, basically with light armament and vehicles. The 1998-1999 war between Serbia and Kosovo ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian forces to withdraw from Kosovo. More than 10,000 people died, mostly Kosovo Albanians.

On Sept. 24, around 30 Serb gunmen killed a Kosovar police officer and then set up barricades in northern Kosovo before launching an hours-long gun battle with Kosovo police. Three gunmen were killed.

NATO had first increased its troops with some 600 Turkish ones after the May 29 clashes with ethnic Serbs.

Munsch said the alliance was ready to add more troops and armaments to preserve peace.

“NATO is maintaining further forces equipped with even heavier armament capable of further combat power on a high state of readiness that is deployable should the nations of NATO decide to do so,” he said.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/ycky5bb9

‘A climate of violence’: Serbian football ultras in spotlight after Kosovo monastery siege (The Guardian)

In the away stand of the creaking Čika Dača stadium, a hooded and masked football fan summoned the crowd to get on their feet and raise their hands. “Three, two, one …” the man led a countdown through his speakerphone.

“Kosovo is Serbia,” a few hundred fans yelled in unison, moments before the match kicked off.

The away supporters were members of Delije, the name of Red Star Belgrade’s notorious ultras, who have long had a reputation for extraordinary violence and are known for their hardline nationalist views. To watch their team play, the fans travelled on a recent Saturday to the industrial city of Kragujevac, a 90-minute drive south of Belgrade.

Their pro-Serbia chants were applauded and repeated by the fans of the home team, Radnički 1923, sitting on brick seats on the other side of the stadium.

Before half-time, Delije unrolled a banner that read: “When the army returns to Kosovo”.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2nm48tcy

Serbian Journalist Testifies About Wartime Detention by Kosovo Fighters (Balkan Insight)

A Serbian journalist told the war crimes trial of Kosovo ex-President Hashim Thaci and three co-defendants in The Hague that he was detained and mistreated by the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998 but didn’t see the accused.

Nebojsa Radosevic, a former journalist for Serbia’s Tanjug news agency, testified at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Monday and Tuesday that he and a Serbian photojournalist were detained and kept in bad conditions by Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters during the war in 1998.

Radosevic told the Hague-based court that after his arrest in October 1998, he was first kept in Shale/Sedlare, then sent to what he thought to be a KLA detention facility in Klecke/Klecka.

He said that “in the 16 days that we were there, we were not mistreated, except for when we first arrived”. He claimed that at one point during his detention, a KLA member had pointed a gun at his mouth and eyes.

Read more at: t.ly/WUc26

 

 

Humanitarian/Development

 

Osmani on Intl Day of Girl Child: We must amplify their voices and aspirations (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani on International Day of Girl Child said in a post on X that “This Int'l Day of the Girl Child, we shine light on the incredible strength, resilience and boundless potential of our girls. We must amplify their voices and aspirations and stand together to empower our future generation of leaders, change-makers, and trailblazers.”