Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti: Hybrid war against Kosovo and democratic government will fail (media)
• Elshani: Security situation in the north quiet but delicate (Kosovapress)
• Pope Francis planning to visit Kosovo (Klan Kosova/Vida Nueva)
• Hajdari files charges against Buzhala, he calls for her resignation (Klan Kosova)
• LDK calls on civil service officials “to be in the service of the state” (Klan Kosova)
• Court sentences Kosovo man to life imprisonment for murdering his girlfriend (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: I’m not playing double games on BiH, Kosovo (BETA, N1)
• Second hearing in trial of Sladjan Trajkovic started (RTS)
• Lawyer says violation of procedure in Trajkovic’s trial, next hearing to take place on September 11 (Kosovo Online)
• Elshani: Remaining number of police officers sufficient to provide security in north (RTK2)
• Vucic, Dodik lay wreaths at Petrovac Road memorial (Tanjug)
• Thousands with refugee status in Serbia 28 years after Croatian “Storm” operation (BETA, N1)
• EU Integration Minister: Serbia ready to open Cluster three (BETA, N1)

   

Albanian Language Media  

  Kurti: Hybrid war against Kosovo and democratic government will fail (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a Facebook post that “today begins the reduction for another 25 percent of the Kosovo police presence in the three municipal buildings in the north of our country. This comes after the security situation assessment at the meeting held the day before yesterday between heads of Kosovo Police and EULEX and KFOR. Security is good, the situation is quiet, and we can reduce the presence of our police some more. The rule of law and public order are being maintained better and better. For over a month and a half now there have been no serious incidents or violent protests. We thank our police and citizens without any difference for their cooperation and fairness.”

“As we have said more than two months ago: 1) there will be no immediate reduction of the police presence, but only gradual and proportional; 2) the reduction includes the police presence in and around the municipal buildings, and not the northern part of the country, where there are still challenges and work for the full enforcement of law and order.”

“We are implementing with responsibility and seriousness, honesty and care, the Bratislava agreement reached on July 10, 2023, in the function of the EU requests from June 3, 2023, for de-escalation. The joint conclusion with international factors for the noticeable improvement of the level of peace and security is proof of clear de-escalation. At the same time, we remain vigilant about a potential re-escalation that can happen as a result of statements inciting hatred and political and state aggressiveness from our northern neighbour.”

“We call on citizens not to fall prey to various disinformation, from those that are the result of misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the situation and developments, and including those that are anti-government sentiments that are publicly broadcast as factual news. The hybrid war against the independent Republic of Kosovo and its democratic and progressive government will fail”.

Elshani: Security situation in the north quiet but delicate (Kosovapress)

Kosovo Police Deputy Director for the north, Veton Elshani, said in an interview with the news agency today that the security situation in the north of Kosovo is quiet, stable but also delicate. He said that depending on the security situation assessment, the number of police will be reduced from the municipal buildings in the north, as foreseen with the political agreement, and added that police do not plan to withdraw from the north completely.

Elshani said that from more than 500 Serb police officers that resigned in November last year, all of them have returned their equipment, including weapons.

While he did not comment much because of investigations, if police have identified or apprehended all suspects that attacked the police points with shock bombs, grenades and other devices, Elshani did say that police have largely identified those suspected of assaults against reporters, KFOR, and Kosovo Police.

Elshani also said that the functioning of parallel structures in the north remains a concern for the police. He also added that the overall situation in the north has changed for the better and that trust is being built between the citizens and the police.

Pope Francis planning to visit Kosovo (Klan Kosova/Vida Nueva)

Pope Francis said in an interview with Spanish magazine Vida Nueva today that he plans to visit Kosovo. “We are working on a visit to Kosovo, but it has not been set yet,” he said. Pope Francis also said he plans to visit Argentina and Uruguay too.

Hajdari files charges against Buzhala, he calls for her resignation (Klan Kosova)

Kosovo’s Minister for Industry, Entrepreneurship, and Trade (MINT), Rozeta Hajdari, has filed charges at the Basic Court in Pristina today against Nacionale news website, its owner and reporter Berat Buzhala, and an official of the MINT, Enver Hajrullahu, over the publication of audio recordings. 

Hajdari wrote in a Facebook post today: “We must not allow continuous defamation, insults, and slander, to turn into something usual, because the damage inflicted on public opinion and our society can be exceptional … Failed attempts to violate my integrity and dignity, through several audio recordings, but also by giving themselves the right to slander, by way of blackmail and by distributing information that is not true, will meet their end at the judiciary.”

Buzhala meanwhile called on Hajdari to resign her post. “Instead of resigning because of the abuse with state reserved, the major financial losses, the terror in the ministry, Rozeta decided to sue me this morning,” Buzhala wrote in a Facebook post.

LDK calls on civil service officials “to be in the service of the state” (Klan Kosova)

The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) held a press conference today welcoming the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the Law on Public Officials. LDK’s department of justice coordinator, Shkemb Manaj, said that all civil service officials must “be in the service of the state of Kosovo”. “Everyday we get complaints from state officials, every day they are taking leave without pay so that they are not part of these decisions. This government needs to be stopped in order for the state of Kosovo to be saved. LDK calls on all civil service officials to be in the service of the state of Kosovo,” he was quoted as saying.

Manaj also said that the LDK does not view the state administration as an administration of political parties. “For us the only difference is between those that enforce the law and those that don’t. Our government will be in the service of economic development and the rule of law,” he said.

According to Manaj, the Kurti-led government is getting red cards every day that it got the latest one from the Constitutional Court on Thursday. “This anti-constitutional government needs to go home, therefore, the LDK is giving it a red card today,” he said.

Court sentences Kosovo man to life imprisonment for murdering his girlfriend (media)

All media report that the Basic Court in Ferizaj sentenced today Dardan Krivaqa to life imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend, Marigona Osmani. The other suspect, Arber Sejdiu, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for aggravated murder. "The accused Arbër Sejdiu, for the criminal offence of assisting in carrying out the criminal offence of serious murder, [the Court] sentences him to imprisonment for a duration of 15 years,” the judge said. A lawyer for the Osmani family said he would file a complaint, claiming that Sejdiu too deserves life imprisonment.

   

Serbian Language Media

  Vucic: I’m not playing double games on BiH, Kosovo (BETA, N1)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia has always respected territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), its Constitution and the Dayton Agreement, as well as the rights of its three constituent peoples and two entities, and stressed that he is not playing any double games on BiH or on Kosovo.

“I am always very honest and fair. I never play any double games, neither on the issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, nor on anything else”, Vucic told the Sarajevo daily Avaz.

He said Serbia is prepared to help everyone but that people from Republika Srpska ask for and expect its help and support, and added that Serbia will help them as well as Bosniaks.

The Serbian President said “stories about meaningless conspiracies that divide people were unnecessary”.

Asked to comment on US sanctions against Serbia’s Security Information Agency (BIA) chief Aleksandar Vulin, Vucic said he did not wish to elaborate but stressed that a solution should be sought to overcome the economic and political obstacles that this entails.

He dismissed the speculations that Serbia is “a factor of instability in the region”.

Vucic said the Open Balkan initiative is the future and that everything depends on how many smart people in the region will come together to support this idea.

“Problems are created only by people who yearn for conflicts so that they can finally be someone, since they are no one in times of peace”, Vucic said.

Second hearing in trial of Sladjan Trajkovic started (RTS)

A second hearing in the trial of Sladjan Trajkovic from Mitrovica North has started at the Basic Court in Pristina. Trajkovic, a former Kosovo police member, is accused of allegedly committing war crimes in Kosovo in the period from 1998 to 1999, RTS reports.

The previous hearing at which the indictment against Trajkovic was supposed to be read had been postponed because the prosecution failed to deliver complete documentation to Trajkovic’s defence lawyer Dejan Vasic.

The hearing is closed to the public. Trajkovic’s family attends the trial.

Trajkovic was arrested on 15 December last year in Bosniak Mahala and remains in detention since then.

He along with his other Serb colleagues in the north resigned from Kosovo police in November last year as a sign of protest against the violence Pristina authorities were exerting upon Serbs in the north, RTS said. 

Lawyer says violations of procedure in Trajkovic’s trial, next hearing to take place on September 11 (Kosovo Online)

A significant violation of the procedure occurred today in a trial of Sladjan Trajkovic, former Kosovo police member accused of allegedly committing war crimes in Kosovo, his defence lawyer Dejan Vasic said, because the trial had been closed to the public in an unlawful manner. He also said the next trial is scheduled to take place on September 11.

He said today’s hearing had been postponed because of the very same reasons as the first one. Media recalled that the first hearing had been postponed because the prosecution did not deliver all documentation to the defence lawyer. 

“This issue will be discussed once this case reaches the Court of Appeals. In this regard I think that today, at this trial, a significant violation of the procedure has occurred, because you (the media) were denied the right to follow what happened in the courtroom today. On the other hand, the judge prohibited (us) to speak about that. The hearing today was not held because of the same reasons as the last one, and the new one is scheduled on September 11”, Vasic said.

Wife of Sladjan Trajkovic said the trial of her husband is political, adding he is innocent and is staying in prison. She also linked the decision to close the trial to the public with the fact that, as she said, there is no sufficient evidence against her husband, and that everything is done illegally and against the law.

“This is a political matter, and the worst thing is that Sladjan suffers, and he is not guilty (…)”, she said. 

Elshani: Remaining number of police officers sufficient to provide security in north (RTK2)

RTK2 reports today that the situation in northern Kosovo seems peaceful, although members of the Kosovo police, and KFOR troops, are still around municipal buildings. As part of the obligations to de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo, a meeting of KFOR, Kosovo police and EULEX was held and measures for de-escalation discussed.

The regional deputy police commander for the north, Veton Elshani, confirmed to RTK that a decision could be made to reduce the police presence in the coming days. “The police have now withdrawn; we are working with 50 percent of the police in the north”, he said.

“What I can confirm is that the Director General of Police has formed a working group, in which I also participate. The decision will be made after consultations with the partner, as stipulated in the agreement. So yes, in the coming days we will definitely have a decision that will be made by the Director General of KP, that is, we and other partners”, he added.

According to Elshani, the remaining number of police officers in the north is sufficient and that they are ready to provide security in this area.

Vucic, Dodik lay wreaths at Petrovac Road memorial (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik on Friday laid wreaths at the Petrovac Road memorial near Bosanski Petrovac, Republika Srpska, erected on the site where the Croatian air force bombed Serbs who were fleeing Croatia on August 7, 1995, Tanjug news agency reports.

Ten people, including four children and a 20-year-old girl, were killed and more than 50 other civilians, many of whom were children, were wounded in a massacre, which took place during Croatia's military operation "Storm".

Other victims deserve respect, too, but the Serbs must not be forced to forget Serb children who were killed just because they were Serbs, Vucic said.

"There was an intentional silence about everything, and the few brave people have spoken about this. We will never be silent about our people, the Serbs, again", Vucic said at the wreath-laying ceremony.

During Croatia's military operation, more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled from the western territories of the Serb held areas and their properties were looted or destroyed.

One thousand and 853 Serbs, including 1,202 civilians, were killed or went missing during this operation and immediately afterwards.

Thousands with refugee status in Serbia 28 years after Croatian “Storm” operation (BETA, N1)

Twenty-eight years after the expulsion of Serbs from Croatia in “Storm” (Oluja) military operation there are still 17,074 people from Croatia with refugee status in Serbia, Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration said.

The Commissariat said it is working with the Serbian Government on resolving the problems of the people who were forced to leave their homes during the conflict in former Yugoslavia.

“One of the most important Commissariat goals is to solve the refugee families’ housing problems”, Commissioner Natasa Stanisavljevic said.

She said 27,925 families have so far been accommodated thanks to donations and funds from the Serbian budget, adding that the European Union is the biggest donor, through the Regional Housing Program.

The Commissioner said 23,975 refugee families have been economically empowered, and that, at this time, there are still 24,897 persons with refugee status, 17,074 of them from Croatia, as well as 194,171 internally displaced persons.

The Commissariat said in a press release that over 190,000 people fled Croatia and found refuge in Serbia in the course of 1995 due to two Croatian military operations, “Flash” (Bljesak) and “Storm” (Oluja).

EU Integration Minister: Serbia ready to open Cluster three (BETA, N1)

Serbian European Integration Minister Tanja Miscevic said progress in Serbia’s accession negotiation with the European Union (EU) has been noted in many areas and stressed that the country is ready to open Cluster three, and that it is working on opening clusters two and five.

“The most concrete work is being done on the opening of Cluster three. Serbia has been fully ready to open Cluster three for two and a half years now, we are monitoring this issue through talks with representatives of member states so that political conditions could be created”, Miscevic told a meeting of the Serbian Parliament Committee for European Integration.

Presenting the Government’s report on accession negotiations with the EU for the period January-June 2023, Miscevic added that work is also being done on opening clusters two and five.

The Minister said Serbia’s main goal in the previous period was to show progress in all areas, with special emphasis on rule of law, while the assessment of progress was presented in the six-monthly document of the European Commission, published in May this year.

Cluster 3 encompasses the following negotiation chapters: Information Society and the Media, Taxation, Economic and Monetary Policy, Welfare Policy and Employment, Entrepreneurship and Industrial Policy, Science and Research, Education and Culture as well as Customs Union.