MP in the Serbian parliament Aleksandar Jablanovic has resigned from the post of MP after he was nominated for the Minister for Communities and Return in the Kosovo government.
Jablanovic said to Belgrade-based daily Kurir that he will first acquaint himself with what has been done so far at the ministry, and then see what are the plans and ongoing projects.
After former mayor of Zubin Potok, Slavisa Ristic, voluntarily reported himself to EULEX for questioning ten days ago, incumbent Mayor of Zubin Potok, Stevan Vulovic, also reported himself voluntarily three days ago. They both escaped to Serbia after Kosovo Police tried to summon them for interrogation in mid-July upon the order issued by EULEX.
The return of displaced persons to Kosovo as a main theme was discussed at the first regional conference in Skopje, organized by the International Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). A large number of senior officials from Belgrade, Pristina, Podgorica and Skopje attended the conference.
Press release of the Ministry for Return announced that the OSCE representatives, who organized the meeting, have said that the aim of the conference is finding lasting solutions for the sensitive issues of return.
ZUBIN POTOK - Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric said Wednesday that the government had provided funds for the construction of six blocks of flats and several dozen houses in the southern Serbian province to facilitate returns of displaced Serbs and other non-Albanians.
A special task force, formed as part of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, has been investigating for 14 months now the corruption allegations concerning the EULEX top tier, reads the Belgrade-based daily Blic on Monday.
According to the daily, one of the contentious cases is related to the sale of the Serb property in KiM.
“The case was led by an American prosecutor who left the mission in protest, because Albanian judges who verified the documents and were involved in corruption were cleared of any responsibility and guilt thanks to EULEX's assistance,” reads Blic.
Deputy Secretary of the Serbian Republic Election Commission Veljko Odalovic said that beside 880 polling stations for elections of the National Councils of Minorities, an additional one will open in Kosovska Mitrovica.
“Following the consent of the OSCE that this elections can take place in Kosovo too, a polling station will open in Kosovska Mitrovica where 405 voters have been registered…thus we’ll enable those who live in that town, and other parts of Kosovo, to exercise their right,” said Odalovic.
The President of the North Mitrovica Assembly Ksenija Bozovic confirmed that Serbs from Zubin Potok/Zubin Zotok, Slobodan Sovrlic and Milan Kompirovic, have entered a hunger strike.
Bozovic said that Sovrlic and Kompirovic entered the hunger strike because their detention was extended and indictment expanded. She went on to say that families of both detainees are dissatisfied with the so far court process and highlighted poor physical condition of both, particularly Sovrlic who lost 20 kilos after spending several months in detention.
President of the Serbian List, Aleksandar Jablanovic says that the list acts independently as an independent political actor in the Assembly of Kosovo and cooperates only with the non-Albanian parties, and wants to create a block with them.
"This is primarily Bosniaks, Ashkali, Gorani, Roma, Egyptians," said Jablanovic and added "with them it will be a block in the Assembly with twenty deputies and will constitute a relevant political force that will represent the citizens whose interests in some parts are a little different from the majority of the Albanian people."
Slobodan Sovrlic from Zubin Potok/Zubin Potok, who is in detention in Kosovska Mitrovica, has sent a written request to EULEX to review the legality of his detention.
In a letter forwarded to TV Most Sovrlic complained on several motions by a prosecutor and announced that he will stage a hunger strike. Sovrlic was detained in mid-May by EULEX under suspicion that he was involved in a killing of a Kosovo police office and that he escaped from Zubin Potok police station’s detention.
On the occasion of a series of attacks on shops in Vojvodina owned by ethnic Albanians, today announced and a member of Parliament of Serbia, Vladeta Kostic, urging the attacks to stop.
"I condemn all incidents occurring in Kosovo and Metohija, but I also condemn and those that took place in Novi Sad, Sombor, Pancevo, Becej, Subotica and in all other places in Vojvodina and Serbia and urge them to stop immediately because they damage interests of Serbia and the Serbian people especially those of us who live in Kosovo and Metohija," Kostic said.