• COVID-19: 32 deaths, 1,612 new cases (media)
• Kosovo expected to enter new negotiations with Pfizer (RFE)
• Government supports proposal to shorten election campaign period (Koha)
• President Osmani met with President of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin (media)
• Moratorium ends soon: Kosovo seeks recognition, Serbia derecognition (Koha)
• Hoxhaj: No alternative to dialogue concluding in mutual recognition (media)
• Rama: Kosovo has entered a dangerous cycle (RTK/Zeri)
• Montenegro explains the use of footnote on Kosovo (RFE)
• Hague Court Rejects Thaci’s Challenge to Kosovo War Crime Charges (BIRN)

COVID-19: 32 deaths, 1,612 new cases (media)

32 people have succumbed to COVID-19 in Kosovo in the last 24 hours. 1,612 new cases were confirmed in this period. 2,460 persons recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 26,524 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Kosovo expected to enter new negotiations with Pfizer (RFE)

Kosovo's Ministry of Health announced that in the coming days it will officially enter negotiations with Pfizer/BioNTech, manufacturer of the COVID-19 vaccine for obtaining more doses.

"Since we now have a recommendation from the National Institute of Public Health for booster dose, the committee will begin negotiations with the company with which we have a contract, but without excluding other manufacturers in order to ensure the third doses which some countries have already started to apply," said Faik Hoti, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.

Government supports proposal to shorten election campaign period (Koha)

The Government of Kosovo has come out in support of the proposal by opposition parties - the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) - to shorten the campaigning period for local elections due to the increased number of coronavirus infections.

"We support the proposal to have the election campaign as short as possible, depending on NIPHK (National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo) recommendations. The battle with the pandemic is a joint effort because we all face the same risk, regardless. Therefore, as in Government Kurti 1, we are open to cooperation. But as Minister of Health Arben Vitia said yesterday cooperation also means not obstructing Government's efforts to manage the pandemic and not sharing disinformation about vaccines and there expiration dates, and when Government measures are respected," the Government spokesperson Perparim Kryeziu told Koha.

President Osmani met with President of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin (media)

The President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani is participating in the Swiss Economic Forum. On Thursday, she met with the President of Switzerland, Mr. Guy Parmelin. President Osmani said that they talked with President Parmelin about expanding cooperation in the economic sector, education, agriculture and health.

“An excellent meeting with the President of Switzerland, Mr. Guy Parmelin. The excellent relations between the two countries and our two peoples have already created a strong basis for opening new chapters of cooperation, therefore our conversation focused on expanding this cooperation in the economic sector, education, agriculture and health. Our two countries are already negotiating the signing of the Free Trade Agreement, and this will expand our economic ties which already have great growth thanks to our extraordinary diaspora,” she wrote.

Moratorium ends soon: Kosovo seeks recognition, Serbia derecognition (Koha)

Two days before the one-year moratorium on Kosovo recognition lobbying is set to expire, officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora said they are following the developments in organisations where Kosovo wants to apply for membership.

"Membership process of course depends on the application deadlines of the organisations where membership is aspired. The sensitive nature of this topic makes it impossible to publish concrete circumstances without risking damaging the strategic interests of the country", said the Ministry.

Meanwhile, officials from Serbia have announced the resumption of the campaign for derecognition of independence of Kosovo.

Hoxhaj: No alternative to dialogue concluding in mutual recognition (media)

Enver Hoxhaj, former Kosovo foreign minister from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), met at the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum the EU Special Representative for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak.

Hoxhaj stated that that the two had a fruitful discussion: "We exchanged ideas on developments in the Western Balkans and positions on the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue which cannot end any other way except in mutual recognition," Hoxhaj wrote on social media.

Rama: Kosovo has entered a dangerous cycle (RTK/Zeri)

Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama spoke about the Open Balkan initiative in an interview with a Tirana-based TV channel and said Kosovo has entered a dangerous cycle which, he said, increasingly angers international partners.

"Kosovo has entered a dangerous cycle by making the domestic policy foreign and the foreign policy domestic. Not today, but for years the foreign policy has become domestic policy."

Rama said the Open Balkan initiative was devised as a response to the ‘slowness’ of the Berlin Process and the European ‘bureaucracy” and is gaining support. "Here's what I don’t understand: there used to be a fight to have a seat at the table. Today Serbs are at the table and Kosovars are fleeing, this is unimaginable. The Open Balkans is not negotiated, it is not discussed, it will be done."

Rama said Serbia needs to apologise for crimes it committed in Kosovo but that this apology should be secured through diplomacy and not barricades. "Dialogue with Serbia is extremely difficult. But the atmosphere that should surround it can not be that of barricades. I think Serbia should apologise and we can lead it to an apology but we must be strategic," he continued.

Montenegro explains the use of footnote on Kosovo (RFE)

The invitation to participate in the Digital Summit of the Western Balkans, to be held in mid-October in Montenegro, was sent to the Minister of Economy of Kosovo Artane Rizvanolli in accordance with the statute of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), and the terminology used was the one accepted by the participants.

This was stated for Radio Free Europe by the Ministry of Public Administration and Digital Society of Montenegro. "The whole organization is in accordance with the rules for the representation of Kosovo in regional initiatives. So, the invitation sent to the Minister of Economy of Kosovo, Artane Rizvanolli has not violated the diplomatic protocol and best multilateral practices," said the Ministry.

It added that Montenegro and Kosovo have developed meaningful and qualitative relations, based on the principles of mutual trust, good neighborliness and have a common European and Euro-Atlantic perspective. "We are convinced that in the coming period, they (Montenegro-Kosovo relations) will be further improved based on mutual trust and respect," it added.

The Ministry of Economy of Kosovo has not commented so far regarding this invitation

Montenegro's previous government, led by President Milo Djukanovic 's Democratic Party of Socialists, recognized Kosovo' s independence in 2008. In all previous documents of the government of Montenegro, Kosovo was treated in accordance with the decision on recognition of independence, not using the footnote.

Hague Court Rejects Thaci’s Challenge to Kosovo War Crime Charges (BIRN)

Pre-trial judge Nicolas Guillou has dismissed an attempt by former Kosovo president and wartime Kosovo Liberation Army political leader Hashim Thaci and two of his co-defendants, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi, to have the charges against them thrown out.

Guillou said in his ruling, which was published online on Wednesday evening, that there was “no violation of the accused’s constitutional rights”, and that “Mr Thaci’s right to be presumed innocent has not been violated”.

In his defence’s legal challenge in March, Thaci claimed that the mandate of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers had expired and that the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office no longer had a constitutional and legal basis to conduct additional investigations.

Thaci also claimed there had been violations of his right to a fair and impartial hearing within a reasonable time, his right to be presumed innocent, and his right to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal.

He alleged that the Specialist Chambers had explicitly endorsed a Council of Europe report which “contains words and statements which clearly reflect the opinion that he was guilty before it had been proved according to law”.

The Council of Europe report, published in 2011, contained grave allegations against senior Kosovo Liberation Army figures including Thaci, which eventually led to the establishment of the Specialist Chambers.

But the pre-trial judge said the report “has not been used to underpin any of the criminal charges with which Mr Thaci has ultimately been charged. On the contrary, the present charges stem from an independent and impartial criminal investigation.”

He also said that no official of the Specialist Chambers has made “prejudicial statements” against Thaci since he was charged in 2019.

The indictment in the case alleges that Thaci and his three co-defendants, Veseli, Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, who were also leading politicians in post-war Kosovo, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when they were senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army in the late 1990s.

They are accused of having been part of a “joint criminal enterprise” that aimed to take control over Kosovo during the war “by means including unlawfully intimidating, mistreating, committing violence against, and removing those deemed to be opponents”. They have all pleaded not guilty.

In a separate development, trial preparation conferences were held on Wednesday and Thursday in another case at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, against KLA Veterans’ Organisation leader Hysni Gucati and his deputy Nasim Haradinaj.

Gucati and Haradinaj are charged with obstructing justice and intimidating witnesses after batches of confidential case files from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which was set up to try former KLA guerrillas, were leaked to them, and both men urged media in Kosovo to publish the material.

On Wednesday the prosecution claimed the two files contained confidential information, including documents from the Serbian authorities and the identities of several witnesses.

Witness-tampering is a key concern for the Specialist Chambers, after problems caused by intimidation in other KLA-related war crimes cases at the UN tribunal in The Hague and in Kosovo itself.