Three former Serbian fighters, including special police commander Vladan Krstovic, are accused of war crimes during an attack on the Kosovo village of Ljubenic that left 46 ethnic Albanians dead. The case against Vladan Krstovic, Lazar Pavlovic and Milan Ivanovic for the attack on Ljubenic during the Kosovo war on April 1, 1999, during which 46 people were killed and 11 wounded, began on Monday at a closed pre-trial hearing at the Belgrade-based special court. The attack took place during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia aimed at ending President Slobodan Milosevic’s offensive against the ethn

04 Sep 14 Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina

04 Sep 14 Dutch police are seeking to arrest doctor Yusuf Sonmez, accused by EU prosecutors in Kosovo of organised crime and people trafficking from a Pristina clinic where organ-trading took place. Marija Ristic BIRN Belgrade Dutch officers are attempting to detain Sonmez, a Turkish doctor accused of being a key figure involved in trafficking in human organs at the Medicus clinic in Pristina, after Kosovo informed them about his whereabouts, a source close to the investigation told BIRN on Thursday. “We are waiting for the results of the search by our Dutch colleagues,” the source said.

03 Sep 14 Pranvera Zena issued her emotional appeal after her husband took their eight-year-old son with him when he went to fight in the war in Syria. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina Syrian insurgents in Aleppo | Wikimedia Commons “Arben, how is it possible that lessons about wars, tanks and jihad are better than lessons about nature, art, animals and sport?” Pranvera Zena wrote in a message to her husband posted on Facebook after he took their child to Syria. Two months ago, the boy’s father Arben said he was taking the child for a weekend trip in the Rugova Mountains in Kosovo, but instead

02 Sep 14 Serbian authorities say they have located Yusuf Sonmez - who the EU rule of law of mission in Kosovo, EULEX, has accused of people trafficking and organised crime - in Amsterdam. Marija Ristic BIRN Belgrade Yusuf Sonmez.

01 Sep 14 Pristina The EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, issued the arrest warrants on Monday after Stevan Vulovic, the mayor of the Zubin Potok municipality, and Slavisa Ristic, a former mayor of Zubin Potok, failed to turn up for interviews with a prosecutor. “We can inform that following

27 Aug 14 Former Yugoslav Army general Nebojsa Pavkovic, convicted of murders and deportations in Kosovo in 1999, will serve his 22-year sentence in Finland, rather than in Serbia as Belgrade would like. Milka Domanovic BIRN Belgrade The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced on Tuesday that former Yugoslav Army general Nebojsa Pavkovic, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in January, will be sent to a prison in Finland despite requests from Serbia for war crimes convicts to serve their jail time at home. Pavkovic was convicted along with another Yugos

26 Aug 14 Pristina

21 Aug 14 At a Constitutional Court hearing on Thursday, Kosovo's two main political blocs argued about which of them has the right to nominate the speaker of parliament. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina The court hearing should pave the way for a ruling designed to end a political stalemate in Kosovo over the election of a speaker - and the formation of a new government. The Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, is contesting the election of an opposition politician, Isa Mustafa, as speaker. Three months on from the general elections, the election of a speaker is a matter of urgency as only then c

18 Aug 14 Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic will go on trial on August 26 for war crimes during the Kosovo conflict as well as committing murder during clashes that erupted afterwards. Marija Ristic BIRN Belgrade Ivanovic, a former Serbian government official and head of a Kosovo Serb political party called Freedom, Democracy, Justice, will appear before Kosovo judges for the first time at the Basic Court in Mitrovica next Tuesday, his lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic said. “It is expected that he will enter his plea and that the indictment will be read,” Vlajic said. The case against Ivanovic has spa