The Director of Radio Belgrade Milivoje Mihajlovic told RTS that Kosovo is further from independence than it was eight years ago, when independence was unilaterally declared. According to Mihajlovic, the authorities in Pristina have spent their time diverting attention away from the economic situation by building animosity towards the Serbs, adding that at 50 percent, Kosovo has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, almost non-existent exports, with around 150,000 people having fled Kosovo.

Verdict to Oliver Ivanovic is deeply unfair. Because of it the fact  is even more apparent that even today no one has been held responsible for thousands of deaths and displaced Serbs from Kosovo.

Thus, in an interview for Blic, Marko Djuric, Director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, answers the question of where is the justice when Hashim Thaci is walking free, while Ivanovic gets nine years in prison for war crimes.

The prosecutor of the Special Investigative Task Force, David Schwendiman, said that reports that the special court will be based in The Hague demonstrates that allegations contained in the Council of Europe report of 2011 are being taken into consideration. In a statement to the Belgrade news agency Beta, Schwendiman said it is crucial that the establishment of the special court be supported by all stakeholders in order to respect all international judicial standards.

Courts have repeatedly failed to safeguard Kosovo war crimes witnesses from threats and violence - now the new Hague-based special court must protect those who testify against powerful defendants.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/can-the-new-kosovo-court-keep-witnesses-safe--01-20-2016

By ANDREW RETTMAN

he Netherlands has formally agreed to host an EU-funded tribunal on Kosovo war crimes, with “sensitive” trials of former Kosovo guerrilla chiefs to start “this year.” The Dutch government took the decision on the Kosovo Relocated Specialist Judicial Institution (KSJI) on Friday (15 January). Details remain to be approved by Dutch and Kosovan parliaments.

Drafters of the Law for the specialized chambers and the office of the specialized prosecutor have foreseen the possibility that the President, the Prime Minister and the President of the Assembly could be among the eventual suspects.

The Head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric has expressed hope that the new Special Court for crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), with headquarters in The Hague, would present more determination and more efficiency than the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The Dutch government has agreed to set up a special court in The Hague to try alleged war crimes committed in Kosovo in the late 1990s.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/netherlands-to-host-kosovo-war-crimes-court-1452910313

The news site reports that a delegation of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by Prime Minister Isa Mustafa laid flowers at the monument of former LDK member and publicist Enver Maloku who was gunned down by unknown assailants in January 1999. Mustafa was quoted as saying that he hopes the Special Court, which has yet to become operational, will shed light on the killings of LDK members. “We have gathered here today to express our outrage with the despicable act and also to express our commitment to help resolve these killings and bring the perpetrators to justice,” Mustafa said.

The controversy over a new special court intended to prosecute former KLA guerrillas for serious crimes committed during and after the 1998-99 war with Serbian forces continued to simmer throughout 2015.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-feels-the-pressure-over-new-war-court-12-23-2015