UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, February 5, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

U.S., EU react to latest decisions by Kosovo authorities (media)
Governor: This is a fight against money laundering and terrorism (Kallxo)
German Defense Minister to visit Kosovo today (media)
Kurti remembers Albanian civilians killed in Mitrovica North in 2000 (media)
“Association current draft status creates room for Republika Srpska” (media)
Kurti: First 100MW solar auction bidding process successful conclusion (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Displaced Serbs from Kosovo announced a three-hour blockade of the road in Rudare on Monday (euronews.rs, Kosovo Online)
Petkovic: Serbs in Kosovo in a difficult situation; we ask for an urgent session of the UN SC (NMagazin, RTS, media)
Tabakovic: Serbia cannot renounce the use of the dinar in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, Vecernje Novosti, Blic)
Serbian List: The Quint countries responsible for the moves that Albin Kurti makes without bearing the consequences (RTS)
SNV again sent a request to Bishop Teodosije to schedule a national assembly (Danas, KiM radio, KoSSev)
The Bishop of Raska-Prizren visited the Serbian people in Osojane to encourage them to stay (Tanjug, KiM radio)
Dimitrijevic: The Pristina government destroying one of the last positive examples of coexistence (KoSSev)
The new DSS adopts the Declaration on Kosovo, requests the state to declare the occupation of that part of the territory (Beta, NMagazin, RTS)
Surlic: Amendments to Chapter 35 call dialogue and European integration into question (Tanjug)
Office for KiM : "Post" workers detained in Gorazdevac, Kurti's terror against Serbs continues (Kosovo Online)
Post of Serbia: The arrest of our workers in Kosovo another in a series of attacks on Serbs (NMagazin, Beta)
KP: Seized 4,000,000 dinars from the Post of Serbia pending the decision of the CBK (Kosovo Online)
The Post Office in Ugljare robbed (KiM radio)
HLC: Arsic found guilty of expulsion, robbery, burning property, and no direct evidence was provided (KoSSev)
Serbian List: Radoica Radomirovic placed posters (KiM radio)
Posters against Radoicic and the SL in the north of Kosovo (Danas, KoSSev)
Reactions to acquittals in Slavko Curuvija case (Beta, N1, nova.rs)

International Media:

US Slams Kosovo for Unnecessarily Raising Ethnic Tensions (Bloomberg)
EU Council Formally Asked To Insert Recent Kosovo Commitments Into Serbia's Accession Talks (RFE)
‘They hit me so hard I lost consciousness’: Serbian opposition politician tells of secret service ordeal (The Guardian)
Rights Groups, U.S. Assail Serbian Court's Acquittal Of Ex-Intelligence Officers In 1999 Murder Of Journalist (RFE)

Albanian Language Media

U.S., EU react to latest decisions by Kosovo authorities (media)

U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeff Hovenier, said in a statement on Saturday that the United States Government is deeply concerned about recent actions by authorities of the Government of Kosovo that have a direct and negative effect on members of the ethnic Serb and other minority communities in Kosovo. “These actions are unnecessarily raising ethnic tensions and as a consequence limit the options of the United States to serve as an effective advocate for Kosovo in the international arena. They include operations carried out by the Kosovo Police at the direction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs over the past week at the offices of Serbia-administered institutions in Dragash/Dragaš, Pejë/Pec, Istog/Istok, and Klinë/Klina, as well as at the NGO Center For Peace and Tolerance in Pristina. We are also concerned by Kosovo Police actions today to seize Serbian Dinar and the vehicle transporting it to distribute social benefit payments from Serbia. We look to the authorities of Kosovo to ensure that the individuals for whom these social benefit payments were intended receive them without delay,” he said.

Hovenier also said that “it is the Government of Kosovo’s responsibility to promote the vision set forth at its founding and enshrined in its Declaration of Independence and Constitution: one of a fully multiethnic democracy that is responsive to the concerns of all of its citizens. The issues related to Serbia-supported structures in Kosovo should be dealt with through the EU-facilitated Dialogue. We likewise reiterate our request that Kosovo postpone enforcement of the Central Bank of Kosovo’s amended Regulation on Cash Operations until satisfactory procedures in line with European standards are in place and until the population has been sufficiently informed about how the transition of their benefits will proceed.”

Alicia Kearns, chair of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, retweeted Hovenier’s post saying that “where is the balance? Did we see a statement like this from the US following Serbia’s illegal kidnapping of 3 police officers? No. The silence on the Banjska terror attack remains deafening.”

Michael Roth, chair of the German Bundestag’s Committee for Foreign Affairs, too reacted to Hovenier’s remarks saying “another example of the unbalanced statements of the US (or the EU) about Kosovo. I miss such clear messages about Serbian aggressions (terrorist attack in Bajnska, kidnapping or blackmail) in the region, dear US Ambassador to Kosovo”.

Spokesperson for the European Union, Peter Stano, issued the following statement on Saturday “on latest police operations against Serbia-run entities” in Kosovo. The statement notes:

The European Union noted with great concern this week’s Special Police operations at the offices of Serbia-run institutions in Dragash/Dragaš, Pejë/Pec, Istog/Istok and Klinë/Klina municipalities and the premises of the non-government organisation Center For Peace and Tolerance in Pristina. The sudden closure of these offices will have negative effects on the daily lives and living conditions of Kosovo-Serb Communities, as it will restrict their access to basic social services given the apparent absence of alternatives at this moment. The status of these structures is foreseen to be resolved in the EU-facilitated Dialogue, in connection with the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities.

Therefore, the EU urges Kosovo to avoid unilateral actions that could raise tensions, and to address these issues through the EU-facilitated Dialogue.

Jeton Zulfaj, political advisor to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, reacted to Stano’s statement saying that “let us not confuse either the period in which we live or what the dialogue in Brussels is about, Peter. The Serbian-run institutions ran away with the Serbian army in 1999 after committing ethnic cleansing and genocide, hundreds of massacres, and killing thousands of civilians, including 1,133 children.”

Ardita Sinani, advisor to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, said in a Facebook post that when it comes to Kosovo, the EU easily calls for internal issues such as the closing of Serbia’s parallel structures in Kosovo and the implementation of the Constitution on the use of the Euro currency to be part of discussions in Brussels. “But when it comes to Serbia, it seems that different standards apply. For example, why did we never hear a call from the EU on the passivization of addresses and the administrative ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Presevo Valley by Serbia? Or about the non-implementation of agreements adopted for Presevo Valley, such as integration, swift economic recovery, the return of displaced population and the demilitarization of the region,” Sinani argued.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday that “France is concerned by the order issued by the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo restricting all cash transactions in the country to euros, effective February 1, 2024. This order, which was decided upon in a rushed, unconcerted manner, will impact the daily life of the Serbian community in Kosovo, which is heavily dependent on payments from Serbia made in Serbian dinars. Given the absence of alternative solutions at this time, France calls for the immediate suspension of this measure in order to allow for a sufficient transition period. We call on the Kosovar authorities to find a solution through negotiations within the framework of an EU-facilitated dialogue.”

Governor: This is a fight against money laundering and terrorism (Kallxo)

Governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo, Ahmet Ismaili, said in an interview with Kallxo Pernime, that according to the new regulation on cash payment operations, the only currency allowed for payments in Kosovo is the Euro. The decision was criticized by the international community, and the EU and U.S. ambassadors visited Ismaili to discuss part of the regulation that bans the use of the Serbian Dinar for payments in Kosovo. Ismaili said during the interview that it is not dignifying to discuss only one point of the regulation while it contains 50 articles. “The regulation addresses a series of important aspects. The minimization that is being done in only one certain discourse, such as the use of only the Euro currency, is not dignifying because the regulation contains 50 articles,” he said. Ismaili also argued that the main motives about the decision that includes the banning of the Serbian Dinar as a currency for payments in Kosovo is the fight against money laundering, against terrorism and the strengthening of the integrity of the financial system.

German Defense Minister to visit Kosovo today (media)

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will visit Kosovo today and is scheduled to meet President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti. He is also expected to meet with his Kosovo counterpart, Ejup Maqedonci.

Kurti remembers Albanian civilians killed in Mitrovica North in 2000 (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a Facebook post on Sunday that on February 3-4 in 2000, “Serbia’s criminal structures and groups carried out a criminal campaign with the aim of ethnically cleansing local Albanians from the north of Mitrovica. On that night, they killed 10 Albanians and wounded 25 others, and tortured dozens of residens. In the following days in February, Serb criminal groups supported by Belgrade, expelled 1,564 Albanian families with 11,364 members from their homes”.

Kurti said “the ethnic cleansing committed 24 years ago completely changed the demographic structure of Mitrovica. According to a report by the International Crisis Group at the time, before February 2000, in the north of Mitrovica, 53 percent of energy meters were in Albanian households”.

Kurti further noted that the massacring and expulsion of Albanians for the ethnic cleansing of Mitrovica from local Albanians were done only eight months after the end of the war in Kosovo. The drastic changes to the reality on the ground created additional conditions for furthering the physical division of the city of Mitrovica into two parts. It was done under the eye of KFOR military troops, and it was followed by the non-actions of Albanian political leaders of the time. The latter in 2013 even voted in the Kosovo Assembly on the law for the amnesty of criminals in the north of Kosovo”.

“Association current draft status creates room for Republika Srpska” (media)

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister for Minority Affairs and Human Rights, Emilija Rexhepi, said in an interview with the Voice of America in Albania, that the EU-proposed draft statute of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo is damaging because it creates room for the creation of a Republika Srpska similar to the one in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rexhepi, who is a representative of the Bosniak community in Kosovo, also said that the government would wait for the position of the Constitutional Court “before drafting a new statute for the Association”.

Kurti: First 100MW solar auction bidding process successful conclusion (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on X on Saturday that “Kosovo’s first 100MW solar auction's bidding process came to a successful conclusion: we received 6 offers from Turkey, Germany, France, Egypt, Switzerland and Kosovo. This auction is a proof of our commitment to a sustainable energy sector, and attracting investment through fair and transparent processes.”

Serbian Language Media

Displaced Serbs from Kosovo announced a three-hour blockade of the road in Rudare on Monday (euronews.rs, Kosovo Online)

Euronews.rs portal reported that Monday, February 5, in the town of Rudare, displaced Serbs from Kosovo will block passenger traffic for all vehicles “driven by Albanians via Merdare, towards Kursumlija, Nis, Belgrade and further towards Subotica”, announced the Association of Displaced Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija with headquarters in Kursumlija.

As it is stated, the blockade of the road will be carried out due to "terror against Serbs and non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija recently, which can lead to unforeseeable consequences for the residents living in Kosovo and Metohija".

Petkovic: Serbs in Kosovo in a difficult situation; we ask for an urgent session of the UN SC (NMagazin, RTS, media)

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said on Sunday that the Serbian people in Kosovo are in a "very difficult situation" due to Pristina's decision on the abolition of the dinar, and announced that Serbia on Monday will request an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council due to existing tensions.

Petković told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti started a crisis that leads to "spirals of violence”, and he assessed that the Serbs living in Metohija are in the worst position since they are returnees.

"The reasons why we are asking for an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council is that Albin Kurti is carrying out ethnic cleansing of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, or, as it is legally stated in the conventions, he is creating unbearable living conditions and deliberately subjects the Serbs to such conditions that they cannot survive in Kosovo and Metohija but to look for a way out, especially in the area of central Serbia," said Petkovic.

He added that in the last year, more than 14 percent of Serbs left the territory of Kosovo and live in central Serbia.

According to him, two employees of the Post Office in Gorazdevac were arrested by the KP on Saturday and money intended for the payment of pensions to Serbs was seized.

"They were held for more than 12 hours in the police station in Pec and interrogated. Only last night at around 8:00 p.m. they were released to their homes,'' said Petkovic and added that ''Kurti is first of all demonstrating force towards the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija. He is now going as far as to literally make it impossible for Serbs to receive pensions and social benefits, especially for returning Serbs, because exactly those four million dinars were intended for that type of payment," Petkovic said.

He assessed that the USA "reacted adequately" for "the first time" since the beginning of the crisis and that Geoffrey Hovenier's statement was "encouraging" since he condemned the attack on Serbian institutions in Kosovo.

Tabakovic: Serbia cannot renounce the use of the dinar in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, Vecernje Novosti, Blic)

The Governor of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Jorgovanka Tabakovic stated that the latest unilateral measures by Pristina to abolish the use of the dinar had been undoubtedly taken to worsen the position of the Serbian population and make the basic conditions for their life and work in Kosovo more difficult. She emphasized that the euro could not legally be a means of payment in Kosovo and that this issue should be resolved only within the framework of political dialogue.

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/47efh6u6

Serbian List: The Quint countries responsible for the moves that Albin Kurti makes without bearing the consequences (RTS)

The president of the Serbian List, Zlatan Elek, said at a press conference in North Mitrovica on Saturday that the Quint countries are responsible for the actions taken by Albin Kurti without consequences, reported Radio Television of Serbia (RTS).

SL representatives say that PM Albin Kurti's latest moves "Storm for the Serbs, without firing a shot against the Serbian community."

The president of the SL, Zlatan Elek, said that "ethnic cleansing" is being carried out against Serbs living in Kosovo, stating that the international community is solely responsible, that is, the Quint countries, for the actions without consequences taken by the PM Kurti.

"They will be direct accomplices if there is an exodus of the Serbian people from KiM," said Elek.

He reminded that SL had several talks with all international officials, including the ambassadors of the Quint countries, representatives of UNMIK and EULEX, and that it always reminded them that the ultimate goal of the government in Pristina is the ethnic cleansing of the Serbs from KiM.

"We had the last conversation with the US ambassador in Pristina, where we expressed all our fears arising from such a decision. I can say that we also discussed other topics, first, one of the topics was that a number of our fellow citizens were arrested without grounds, then we also discussed the intrusions into our institutions as well as the decision to cancel the dinar. We came to an understanding, we agree on many issues, and the ambassador himself agrees that this is an extremely dangerous move," said Elek.

The incomes of around 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo at risk

Elek pointed out that everyone who receives income from the Republic of Serbia, pensioners, beneficiaries of social benefits, students, and others, that is, about 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo, are at risk.

He emphasized that the abolition of the dinar and the payment transaction puts the Serbs in an unbearable position and is a prelude to the total exodus of the Serbian people.

"This is a prelude to the total exodus of the Serbian people from the territory of KiM, it is not a random result at all, these are pre-prepared moves by the government of Albin Kurti and we well recognize his handwriting in this decision. It should be clearly understood that this decision abolishes the Serbian institutions that take care of education, healthcare, social assistance, and the economy, which in translation means that the life of Serbs here on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija is being abolished," said Elek.

Dragisa Milovic, the SL vice-president, said that this is an opportunity to preserve peace, for the Serbian people to be united, to preserve their church, which shares the destiny of the people.

SNV again sent a request to Bishop Teodosije to schedule a national assembly (Danas, KiM radio, KoSSev)

The letter stated that the time has come when the Serbs in Kosovo need help, in order to "save the lives of their families, their souls and honor", reported KiM radio.

"Our people in Kosovo and Metohija at this decisive moment need unity, agreement on important decisions about what we should do, support to survive and stay. What we have warned you about on several occasions is in action, that the people were deceived and abandoned, betrayed, anesthetized and intoxicated by the lies of their leaders, intimidated by the unscrupulous regime of Arbin Kurti, who, to our great regret, is supported by the international community in his insane intent. Bishop, your flock was deceived, broken, decapitated, abandoned, abandoned to agony and disappearance. Bishop, do you see that, except for rare voices, Serbia is silent, while the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija are experiencing an exodus. The government is silent, the opposition is silent, the intellectual elite is silent. It is as if it is happening to someone in a faraway land," the petition added.

They proposed to gather with Bishop Ilarion, the abbots of the monasteries in Kosovo on Sunday, during the day, after the morning liturgy in the Gracanica monastery, all relevant political subjects, civil activists, prominent people, to agree on the urgent holding of a church-people's assembly.

"The Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija is ready to take on part of the responsibilities and obligations for the organization of the Church-People's Assembly," the statement added, among other things, reported KiM radio.

The Bishop of Raska-Prizren visited the Serbian people in Osojane to encourage them to stay (Tanjug, KiM radio)

Bishop Teodosije of Raska-Prizren visited Sunday the Serbian people in Osojane to encourage them to stay in their centuries-old homes and not leave their holy places, reported Tanjug.

Bishop served the holy liturgy in the church of St. Archangel Gabriel with the concelebration of priests from the vicarages of Mitrovica and Pec, it was announced on the website of the Eparchy of Raska-Prizren.

Dimitrijevic: The Pristina government destroying one of the last positive examples of coexistence (KoSSev)

It would be a crime to leave the elderly, including returnees in Metohija, without pensions, the editor of Radio Gorazdevac, Darko Dimitrijevic, commented on the Kosovo Police seizing money from Belgrade intended for Serbs in this area. In a statement for KoSSev, Dimitrijevic warned of a possible mass departure of Kosovo Serbs if Quint fails to take immediate action.

Two employees of the Serbian Post, V.M and V.P, were detained yesterday while they were traveling from the direction of Osojane toward Gorazdevac. The money they were carrying, intended for the pay out of pensions and social benefits, was confiscated. They were transporting Serbian dinar banknotes, the use of which has been practically suspended by the new regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo on currency, which entered into force on February 1.

Although the police has yet to confirm that the money was seized, the news was confirmed by several sources, including Radio Gorazdevac, which reported from the site.

The Pristina government did not defeat Serbia but harmed the poorest people

Dimitrijević told KoSSev that with this move, the Kosovo authorities did not defeat Serbia, but harmed the poorest and most vulnerable population group.

Read more at:https://t.ly/9-iDd

The new DSS adopts the Declaration on Kosovo, requests the state to declare the occupation of that part of the territory (Beta, NMagazin, RTS)

The Main Board of the New Democratic Party of Serbia (New DSS) adopted on Sunday the Declaration on Kosovo and Metohija, which assesses that the "Kosovo policy" of the authorities in Belgrade "experienced a complete breakdown" and demands that Serbia declare the occupation of that part of the territory due to "flagrant and continuous violations " of Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, reported NMagazin.

In the declaration that the Beta agency had access to, it is stated that for the New DSS, the so-called Franco-German agreement on Kosovo and the annex from Ohrid are "absolutely and unequivocally of an unconstitutional and anti-state character" and that as such they are "null and void" and cannot produce legal consequences, reported the portal among other things.

Surlic: Amendments to Chapter 35 call dialogue and European integration into question (Tanjug)

''If the changes to Chapter 35 are approved, it will mean that all members have agreed on it, including the five countries that do not recognize Kosovo's independence,'' assesses Stefan Surlic, assistant professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, and indicates that the key problem for Serbia is if the obligation to enter into the negotiating framework is not to prevent the membership of Kosovo in any international organization, reported agency Tanjug.

According to Surlic, among other things, it is unrealistic that Serbia will fulfill the formulated demands from the new Negotiating Framework if they conflict with clearly defined red lines, which could consequently mean a permanent standstill for Serbia in European integration. He adds that such a decision by Brussels would mean the legitimization of all discriminatory moves by Pristina and lead to questioning the credibility of the mediator and the expediency of the dialogue process.

Office for KiM : "Post" workers detained in Gorazdevac, Kurti's terror against Serbs continues (Kosovo Online)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated that "Albin Kurti's terror against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija continues today with the arrest of the "Post" workers in Gorazdevac, the southernmost predominantly Serbian municipality."

"The driver V. M. and his companion V. P. were detained by Kurti's police, and then the director of the Post Office in Gorazdevac was also asked to go to the station and give a statement. Kurti's police action was conducted to prevent the payment of pensions to residents of this Serbian enclave, with the clear aim of preventing the survival of the Serbian people in their ancestral homes," the statement said.

Read more at:http://tinyurl.com/mwj5e2r2

Post of Serbia: The arrest of our workers in Kosovo another in a series of attacks on Serbs (NMagazin, Beta)

The public company "Post of Serbia" (Posta Srbije) assessed on Saturday that the arrest of their employees in Kosovo by the Kosovo police was ''another in a series of attacks on the Serbian community in that province'', reported portal NMagazin.

"The driver V.M. and his companion V.P., employed in our company, were unjustifiably detained by the Kurti's police, which clearly indicates politically motivated and illegal behavior. Also, demanding a statement from the postmaster in Gorazdevac represents additional pressure on our institution and an attempt of destabilization of business," stated the Post of Serbia announcement.

They assessed that such action by the KP is aimed at preventing the payment of pensions to Serbs in Gorazdevac, as well as systematically endangering the Serbian people in Kosovo.

"This act of terror clearly shows Kurti's intention to threaten the survival of the Serbian population in centuries-old homes and to implement a policy of ethnic cleansing. The acting director of 'Post of Serbia', Zoran Djordjevic, sent a letter to the ambassadors of the Quint countries in which he requested their immediate reaction and the undertaking of concrete activities that would lead to the release of the arrested workers," the statement said.

KP: Seized 4,000,000 dinars from the Post of Serbia pending the decision of the CBK (Kosovo Online)

The Kosovo police announced that in the village of Gorazdevac in Pec, its members stopped a "Fiat" vehicle of the Serbian Post and confiscated 4,000,000 dinars and four bags of letters.

"In Gorazdevac near Pec, at 10:30 a.m., a police patrol stopped a Fiat car of the Post of Serbia with Serbian license plates VR 159-PM, in which were Vojislav Mikic and Vladimir Popovic. During the check, a bag with dinars in the amount of 4,000,000 dinars, which in euros amounts to about 32,000 euros was found. Four bags of postal letters addressed to the citizens of Osojane, Gorazdevac and Orahovac were also found," the announcement states, adding that three people, all as witnesses, were questioned at the police station, on the authority of state prosecutor Lumturi Vuketai.

"They stated that earlier in the day they distributed 3,000,000 dinars in Osojane, 4,500,000 dinars in Orahovac and 4,000,000 dinars in Banja. By the decision of the state prosecutor, 4,000,000 dinars and the vehicle were confiscated, and the persons were released," the announcement read, adding that the money has been retained, and that the CBK will decide on the further procedure on Monday.

The Post Office in Ugljare robbed (KiM radio)

Unknown persons who robbed on Saturday early morning the facility of Post Office Kosovo Polje in Ugljare village, took money worth close to 200,000 dinars, confirmed the president of the Provisional Authority of Kosovo Polje, Aleksandar Trajkovic, reported Kim radio.

The police conducted an investigation.

HLC: Arsic found guilty of expulsion, robbery, burning property, and no direct evidence was provided (KoSSev)

"A practice is being established in judgments for war crimes in which the specific actions of the accused are not specified, but they are generalized as the actions of a group, creating the conviction that one member of the group is convicted for the incriminating actions of other persons," the Humanitarian Law Center - Kosovo reacted after that Dusko Arsic was sentenced to 13 years in prison, reported portal KoSSev.

In HLC's reaction on Friday, it was said that A. K and other witnesses of the prosecution, during the main trial, testified mainly about the event of April 20, 1999, which took place in the village of Butovac in the municipality of Pristina.

"According to the injured person A. K, the accused Dusko Arsic participated in physical and psychological abuse that day. In those moments, one of the members of the group of Serbian forces, of which the accused was a part, fired a firearm in the direction of B. S, who was tens of meters away from the victim and who was wounded, and was later found dead," state from the HLC.

However, as they add, the court also found Arsic guilty of participation in expulsion, robbery, burning of property, abuse of civilians and murders of other civilians, referring to the crimes committed by Serbian forces in the Pristina region in the period from January to June 1999.

The Fund states that no direct evidence has been provided that can be linked to the individual responsibility of the accused.

"In the sentencing, the specific incriminating actions of the accused were mentioned only in connection with the physical and psychological abuse of the injured party, A. K," they added.

The Fund for Humanitarian Law Kosovo believes that a practice is being established in judgments for war crimes in which the specific actions of the accused are not specified, but they are generalized as the actions of a group, which creates the conviction that one member of the group is convicted for the incriminating actions of other persons.

"This practice should be stopped, and every incriminating action of the defendants should be explained, with the punishment for each of them individually, after which the unified punishment would be pronounced." In this way, the public would have a much clearer idea of what crimes the accused was convicted of", they conclude in the announcement.

Serbian List: Radoica Radomirovic placed posters (KiM radio)

For the posters with the image of the SL former vice-president Milan Radoicic in the north of Kosovo, Serbian List accused the Deputy Minister for Communities and Return in the Government of Kosovo, Radoica Radomirovis, reported Kim radio.

As the SL state, it was Radomirovic who organized the pasting of posters with, as they say, ''derogatory and false content'' in the municipality of Leposavic, all "in the desire to divert the public's attention from the affair where on video footage his associates are seen consuming substances suspected of being cocaine in the premises of the municipality of Leposavic during working hours".

"Radomirovic had to put up posters after Leposavic himself, as a deputy minister in Kurti's government, and he is lying about how the citizens of this municipality did it. It is a shame that the Solak's and some local media rushed to publish these heinous lies without checking, ignoring the basic rules of journalism and the obligation to report to the public truthfully. These posters were not put up by the people, but by Radoica Radomirovic, and he didn't put them up all over the north but hiding under masks in a couple of streets in the municipality of Leposavic," the SL stated and called on the Kosovo Police to prosecute Radomirovic because, as they pointed out, the statements of eyewitnesses and video recordings appearing in the public confirm that Radoica Radomirovic was placing the posters.

Posters against Radoicic and the SL in the north of Kosovo (Danas, KoSSev)

KiM radio reported that the Deputy Minister for Communities and Return in the Government of Kosovo, Radoica Radomirovic, published on his FB account photos of posters against the former vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoicic, who is suspected of the incident in the village of Banjska, reported Danas on Saturday. Radomirovic stated that the posters were put up in Zubin Potok and Leposavic. The porters label Radoicic as a "false patriot" and SL as a ''terrorist organization''.

"Who is Milan Radojicic? A false patriot. Suspects for numerous murders of Serbs in Kosovo. The owner of a drug lab. A criminal who abused our youth for personal enrichment. A terrorist," the posters read. "Say NO to the terrorist organization (Serbian List" was also a message on the poster.

The deputy commander of the Kosovo Police for the North region, Veton Elshani, told KoSSev that there is no reason to launch an investigation, because the prosecutor concluded so. "We are aware of it, we informed the prosecutor, but he concluded that there are no grounds to open a case," Elshani told KoSSev.

Reactions to acquittals in Slavko Curuvija case (Beta, N1, nova.rs)

Representatives of journalists’ associations and political parties reacted almost unanimously to the Appeals Court’s acquittals in the case of the murder of journalist, editor, and newspaper publisher Slavko Curuvija, expressing their dissatisfaction.

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/bu74ajsz

International Media

US Slams Kosovo for Unnecessarily Raising Ethnic Tensions (Bloomberg)

The US stepped up criticism of Kosovo’s crackdown on the use of the Serbian currency, which included seizing a vehicle transporting social benefit payments for the members of nation’s Serbian minority.

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/4ryzcdbt

EU Council Formally Asked To Insert Recent Kosovo Commitments Into Serbia's Accession Talks (RFE)

The European Commission and the bloc's diplomatic service have submitted a proposal to the European Council to make commitments by Serbia last year related to neighboring Kosovo part of Belgrade's formal negotiating framework for entry to the European Union, RFE/RL's Balkan Service has learned.

The proposal by the EU's executive arm and the EEAS to the European Council, where leaders of the respective member states set the bloc's political agenda, was delivered on February 2, according to a commission spokesperson.

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/35v8ztud

‘They hit me so hard I lost consciousness’: Serbian opposition politician tells of secret service ordeal (The Guardian)

Bed-bound in the gargantuan brick and marble villa that is his home, Nikola Sandulović recounts the attack that has, he says, left him paralysed on his right side and unable to walk.

It was 3 January at 3.20pm when three vehicles carrying agents from Serbia’s BIA secret service screeched to a halt outside his home in Belgrade’s plush Senjak area. Bundled into a black van – its tinted windows shielding what would happen next – the masked men soon told him why they had come: the former entrepreneur and opposition politician had dared to apologise for crimes committed by Serbs when inter-ethnic conflict convulsed Kosovo in the late 1990s after the violent break-up of Yugoslavia.

“It was unimaginable,” he told the Observer, recalling the ordeal in his first interview with a British newspaper since the alleged assault. “The day after I posted the video on social media saying ‘sorry’ as I laid flowers at the grave of the young girl who, yes, was related to a founder of the Kosovo Liberation Army [which led the revolt against Serbian rule] I got threats.