• COVID-19: 1,927 new cases, 14 deaths (media)
• US Embassy: COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain microchips (media)
• The unsheltered during the pandemic (Koha Ditore)
• Murder of teenage woman sparks protest in Ferizaj (BIRN)
• “Hundreds of cases domestic violence, thorough vetting in justice is needed” (KTV)
• Delete profile: Online abuse of Kosovo women costing democracy (BIRN)
• Serbian List not sure if it will take part in October local elections (RFE)

COVID-19: 1,927 new cases, 14 deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded 1,927 new cases with COVID-19 and 14 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours. 433 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 22,038 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

US Embassy: COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain microchips (media)

The United States Embassy in Kosovo said in a Twitter post on Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccines do not contain microchips. “Vaccines are developed to fight against disease and are not administered to track your movement,” the post notes.

The unsheltered during the pandemic (Koha Ditore)

The daily published today a six-month research about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among non-majority communities in Kosovo. “During the one-year campaign, the main call in the world was to stay at home because of the threat from COVID-19, the pandemic declared by the World Health Organisation. But this did not apply for many families of non-majority communities in Kosovo who lack shelter and are forced to live in inappropriate buildings which lack even the most basic living conditions,” the paper notes. During the six-month research, Koha was able to identify shelter-related problems faced by the non-majority communities and measures undertaken by the institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research also brings successful models that were applied by other countries during the pandemic in addressing these problems. Koha also notes that during the pandemic, the Kosovo government issued several decisions for managing the situation, but that none of them addressed the issues of homeless people and those living in poverty.

Murder of teenage woman sparks protest in Ferizaj (BIRN)

Protesters took to the streets of Ferizaj after the body of an 18-year-old woman, who doctors said died after being assaulted for two days, was left at the local hospital by her suspected assailants.

Dozens of locals and civil society activists protested on Tuesday in Ferizaj after the dead body of an 18-year-old woman was left near the door of the local hospital by two men who then immediately drove away.

“The police have blood on their hands,” the protesters shouted in front of the police station in Ferizaj, while throwing red paint at a policeman. They believe that the authorities have not done enough to prevent violence against women.

Doctors have confirmed that the victim, identified only as M.O., died as the result of physical abuse. The prosecution said that she was physically abused for two consecutive days before she died.

The police said they identified two suspects, Arber Sejdiu, 32, and Dardan Krivaqa, 29, from the hospital’s security camera footage.

Police confirmed the arrest of Sejdiu on Monday for involvement in a murder. On Tuesday, a court remanded him in custody for a month.

Krivaqa was arrested on Tuesday after police initiated a nationwide manhunt. They said he is the main suspect in the murder.

“There is a well-founded suspicion that on August 22, 2021, around 3pm, in Ramadan Rexhepi Street, in Ferizaj, at the apartment of the suspect D.K., he intentionally and cruelly, for base motives, mistreated the victim,” said the prosecution in its request for a custody remand.

Tuesday’s protest came after several other demonstrations in Kosovo against increased violence against women in May this year. Kosovo police have told BIRN there were 46 reported sexual assault in 2019, 56 in 2020, and 21 up to the end of April 2021.

There were 40 reports of sexual harassment in 2019, 48 in 2020, and 20 up to the end of April 2021. In April, BIRN reported that the number of cases of domestic violence reported to police in Kosovo has risen steadily, from 1,541 in 2018 to 1,915 in 2019 and just over 2,000 in 2020. In the first six months of 2021, a further 165 cases were registered.

However, the numbers could be higher as there is still a stigma about reporting domestic violence and sexual assaults to the police in Kosovo.

“Hundreds of cases domestic violence, thorough vetting in justice is needed” (KTV)

Leotrim Gashi, a researcher with the Prishtina-based Kosovo Law Institute, said in an interview with KTV on Tuesday that a thorough vetting in the judiciary in Kosovo is needed as soon as possible. He said that cases of domestic violence, including deaths, are continuing and that there are no concrete actions to stop them.

“Cases like this one this week [murder of teenage girl in Ferizaj] but also many other cases, which fortunately did not have the same ending, are in the hundreds. This shows that Kosovo needs a vetting process as soon as possible in all sectors of the judiciary, the police, prosecution and the courts,” Gashi argued.

Delete profile: Online abuse of Kosovo women costing democracy (BIRN)

Online abuse of Kosovo women is taking a toll on their readiness to engage in political and public life.

In late 2015, feminist activist Elonë Kastrati received a message on her Instagram account that read: “Make sure you choke yourself to death surrounded by your meaningless pads full of your disgusting period blood.”

Months earlier, to mark International Women’s Day, then 19-year-old Kastrati had made international headlines by pinning sanitary pads to trees and other objects around her hometown of Karlsruhe, near Germany’s southwestern border with France.

She had written on them things like, “Imagine if men were as disgusted with rape as they are with period blood” and “Rapists rape people, not outfits.”

But if many of the responses her work elicited were positive, many were not. Kastrati, who was born in Germany to Kosovo Albanian parents, appeared to strike a nerve among other ethnic Albanians in particular.

With the help of an IT professional, Kastrati was able to identify the rough area from where the message was sent.

She suspected a former friend, a fellow ethnic Albanian whom Kastrati said had grown increasingly insulting and aggressive in his online communication with her. She went to the German police, but was too scared to name the man she suspected of threatening her and the case went no further.

The backlash and abuse, the threats of rape and death, had become unbearable.

Six years later, Kastrati no longer uses either Facebook or Twitter under her real name.

“It is a very toxic environment,” she said.

Kastrati, who currently works at a kindergarten in Germany, said she remains a feminist activist, “but I don’t make any public appearances.”

“I never stopped my activism, but I choose not to spend too much time online,” Kastrati told BIRN. “Online activism is emotionally draining and it takes too much time. And that is currently not my priority.”

Read full article here: https://bit.ly/3muSZsV

Serbian List not sure if it will take part in October local elections (RFE)

The Serbian List said on Tuesday that it will decide whether or not it will participate in Kosovo’s local elections on October 17, after accusing Pristina of violating the Brussels Agreements. The reaction of the biggest party of Kosovo Serbs comes after the decision of the Court of Appeals in Kosovo, which upheld the verdict of the Basic Court in Pristina, according to which the member of the Assembly of Kosovo from the Serbian List, Ivan Todosijevic, was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of inciting national, racial, religious or ethnic hatred, dissension or intolerance. The Serbian List said it would make its decision after consultations with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “Being that Pristina continues to violate the Brussels Agreement to the detriment of Serbs, we will decide whether to run in the upcoming local elections after consultations with President Aleksandar Vucic and our leadership,” the party said in a statement.