Albanian Language Media: 

• Court repeals law on IMC, and gives green light to law on KPC (Koha)
• Haxhiu welcomes court’s ruling on Law on Prosecutorial Council (media)
• Kurti doesn’t talk to media; reporters drop microphones on the ground (RTK)
• LDK: Calling assembly sessions every 48 hours is a waste of time (media)
• Osmani: Kosovo-Finland friendship alive, growing, focused on the future (media)
• Osmani: Turkish community plays vital role in enriching our life (media)
• Gervalla slams Porfirije’s statements on Kosovo, and calls on EU to react (media)
• Mitrovica North Mayor: Gangs have been destroyed; city breathes freely (media)

Serbian Language Media: 

• Petkovic: Statement of Osmani that Pristina wants dialogue and Belgrade does not, for the column "Believe it or not" (Tanjug, media)

• Jevtic: The new public utility company was temporarily closed, the raid was without a warrant (Tanjug)

• Biljana Pantic Pilja: We pointed out in Italy the violation of the rights of Serbs in Kosovo (Tanjug)
• For what the Albanian mayors’ mandate will be remembered for in the North? 
• University of Belgrade law student denied entry into Serbia (FoNet, N1)

Albanian Language Media 

Court repeals law on IMC, and gives green light to law on KPC (Koha)

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo ruled on Wednesday to repeal the Law on the Independent Media Commission (IMC), while it gave the green light for the Law on the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) to be decreed by President Vjosa Osmani. Both laws were sent to the Constitutional Court by MPs from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). 

The court said in its ruling that five articles of the law on the IMC fall in opposition with the Constitution of Kosovo. Meanwhile, on the disputed articles of the law on the KPC, the Court ruled that they are in compliance with the Constitution. 

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/cEPo7

Haxhiu welcomes court’s ruling on Law on Prosecutorial Council (media)

Kosovo’s acting Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, welcomed the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo in favor of the Law on the Prosecutorial Council of Kosovo, and said that it is a great victory for reforms and the entire judicial system. “After a very long effort and road, faced with a lot of challenges and obstacles, boycotts and delays, the Constitutional Court today notified and validated the changes in the Law on the Prosecutorial Council. This is a great victory, a victory for reforms and for the entire judicial system. As a result, the KPC will no longer function based on the interests of groups, politics or clans, and will not have a corporatist and unbalanced composition dominated almost 100 percent by prosecutors, which have brought irreparable damages to the system,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

Haxhiu also said that the changes to the law will bring professionalism and integrity, transparency and accountability, aimed at increasing the people’s trust in the judiciary. 

Several news websites note that Haxhiu did not comment on the Court’s ruling to repeal the Law on the Independent Media Commission as five of its articles are in opposition with the Constitution of Kosovo. 

Kurti doesn’t talk to media; reporters drop microphones on the ground (RTK)

Kosovo’s acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti did not talk to the media after the constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly was interrupted as Vetevendosje’s candidate for Assembly Speaker, Albulena Haxhiu, did not get the required number of votes. In sign of protest that Kurti did not address them after the constitutive sessions, reporters on Wednesday dropped their microphones on the ground as a sign of protest. 

LDK: Calling assembly sessions every 48 hours is a waste of time (media)

Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Doarsa Kica-Xhelili said on Wednesday that the LDK understands the right of the winning party to propose their candidate for the post of Assembly Speaker. “We have never contested this. But it should also be clear that the biggest party has an obligation to create political consensus for the candidate it proposes for Assembly Speaker. If there is no such political agreement, we believe it is a waste of time to call assembly sessions every 48 hours and in the absence of such a political agreement to go back to the sessions for an empty five-minute rhetoric,” she argued. 

Kica-Xhelili also said that if the winning party does not change its position, nothing will change “because we [the LDK] cannot change our position if the circumstances do not change”.

Osmani: Kosovo-Finland friendship alive, growing and focused on the future (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said on Wednesday that the friendship between Kosovo and Finland “is not only rooted in the past - it is alive, growing, and firmly focused on the future”. “With President Alexander Stubb, we’re committed to strengthening our partnership, honoring the legacy of President Ahtisaari, defending the freedom both our nations have long fought for, and unlocking the full potential of what our people can achieve together,” Osmani wrote in a post on X during her visit to Finland.

Osmani: Turkish community plays a vital role in enriching our life (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in a post on X on Wednesday on the occasion of the Day of the Turkish Community in Kosovo that “we celebrate the rich heritage and invaluable contributions of the Turkish community to our society. Kosovo draws strength from its diversity - and the Turkish community continues to play a vital role in enriching our cultural, social, and civic life. From language and tradition to art, education, and public service, your presence helps shape the very heart of our Republic”.

Gervalla slams Porfirije’s statements on Kosovo, and calls on EU to react (media)

Kosovo’s acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gervalla, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that “the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije, only several days after being allowed to visit Kosovo, appeared in Moscow alongside Russian President Putin, and made statements that threaten Kosovo’s sovereignty and incite divisions throughout the region”.

According to Gervalla “these positions are not new” and that “the Serbian Orthodox Church has historically been part of nationalistic ideologies that fed the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo in the 1990s. Unfortunately, the same legacy continues even today, through statements that insult neighbors, deny reality and try to destabilize the Balkans”.

“Porfirije’s words are not without weight – they convey a vision about the past not about the future. The future of the region cannot be built on the nostalgia for domination and conflict, but on respect and coexistence. Kosovo is committed to peace, dialogue and cooperation. We are willing to work with political and religious leaders that build bridges between people, nations and religions. We honestly hope that one day, at the helm of the Serbian Orthodox Church, there will be such a partner for the future. We expect a clear reaction from the European Union, as the facilitator of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. Silence about statements that undermine peace and incite hatred are not neutrality, they are normalization of hate speech. Kosovo will continue to protect European values and peace in the region, with responsibility and a clear vision for the future,” Gervalla said.

Mitrovica North Mayor: Gangs have been destroyed; city breathes freely (media)

Mitrovica North Mayor, Erden Atiq, said on Wednesday that two years after he was elected mayor, “the gangs in the city have been destroyed and the city breathes more freely now”. “It has been two years since our municipal governance in Mitrovica North. In these two years, we faced many criminal attacks with political orders from Belgrade through its satellite Serbian List which used to govern the municipality … Today, after two years of resistance against criminal and terrorist attacks, the gangs have been destroyed, and the city breathes more freely. The citizens are free and the municipality belongs to all citizens without any difference. There were many ill-will suggestions back then for us to leave the municipality, unfortunately even by the opposition in Pristina, but imagine what Mitrovica North would look like today if we had heeded these suggestions,” Atiq wrote in a Facebook post.

Serbian Language Media  

Petkovic: Statement of Osmani that Pristina wants dialogue and Belgrade does not, for the column "Believe it or not" (Tanjug, media)

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said yesterday, reacting to the statement of Vjosa Osmani that Pristina allegedly wants dialogue, and Belgrade does not, that her statement would only make sense if it was in the "Believe it or not" column, reported Tanjug.

"Vjosa's statement would only make sense if it was in the 'Believe it or not' column. The problem is even bigger that she doesn't even believe herself when she says that Pristina wants dialogue. It cannot be hidden that for 12 years PR refuses to form ZSO, that it shuts down Serbian institutions and expels Serbs!", wrote Petkovic on his X account.

Jevtic: The new public utility company was temporarily closed, the raid was without a warrant (Tanjug)

The President of Strpce municipality, Dalibor Jevtic, said yesterday that the intrusion of KP into the premises of the New Public Utility Company in Strache was carried out without a warrant, as well as that only after he insisted on being shown the decision on such action in written form, the Inspectors of the Ministry of Trade came to the scene and temporarily closed the company.

"I, of course, did not get such a paper because such a paper did not exist. Therefore, there was neither an order from the prosecution, nor a decision of a court, nor any other decision of the relevant, if you will, judicial institutions to proceed with the closure of the new public utility company here in the Municipality of Strpce. Since I insisted that, if they already insist on the closure, they should give me the basis on which they are doing and since they did not have an answer to that question, then the whole situation changed. Then they decided to call representatives of the Ministry of Trade, and the spot appeared inspectors from the Ministry of Trade or market inspectors who entered the facility, left and put a notice on the door of the facility that the facility was temporarily closed," said Jevtic.

As Jevtic told Tanjug, yesterday’s action by the Kosovo Police was conducted based on the request of the Ministry of Economy, no search was conducted because they did not have any warrant for it and none of the documents were taken.

Biljana Pantic Pilja: We pointed out in Italy the violation of the rights of Serbs in Kosovo (Tanjug)

The head of the Serbian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Biljana Pantic Pilja, said yesterday in Rome that she pointed out in meetings with representatives of the Italian Senate and the House of Representatives that the human rights of Serbs are constantly being violated in Kosovo, reported Tanjug. 

"Today we had a series of meetings as the Foreign Affairs Committee, where I participated as the head of the Serbian delegation in the PACE. There were certain MPs who were also members of the Italian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We expressed our gratitude for their support. They are recognizers of the so-called independent Kosovo, but we constantly have the support of the Italian delegation because we managed to point out that human rights are constantly being violated in Kosovo and Metohija and international law is not respected," she told Tanjug.

As she added, the recent arrests taking place in that territory are in favor of this.

For what the Albanian mayors’ mandate will be remembered for in the North? 

Taking down Serbian flags from municipal buildings, joining the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, governing in line with the interests of the central government in Pristina rather than the needs of the majority Serbian population... Two years after the local elections in the northern municipalities—elections boycotted by Serbs, after which Albanian mayors took office in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic, and Zubin Potok—analysts are reflecting on how their mandates will be remembered. Alongside decisions perceived as provocations against Serbs, there were, they say, also attempts to court the local population.

“There were a few minor things the mayors did for the citizens, but they are negligible compared to the general feeling of insecurity and pressure,” said a resident of North Mitrovica to Kosovo Online reporters.

“My granddaughter was fined 500 euros just for listening to music in the car. That doesn’t happen anywhere else, only here,” he added.

It is also rare for someone to come to power with only 1% of the electorate voting for them, which is why these mayors were often labeled illegitimate from day one. After the 2023 elections, the Quint also stated that the results were not a long-term political solution for the four northern municipalities. However, new elections have not yet taken place.

According to data from the Central Election Commission, on the day of the elections exactly two years ago, only 1,567 voters cast their ballots out of 45,000 eligible voters in the four municipalities—just 3.47%. In Leposavic, 141 voters cast ballots (1.06%), in Zubin Potok 385 (5.78%), in Zvecan 204 (2.92%), and in North Mitrovica 837 (4.62%).

Erden Atic from Self-Determination became mayor of North Mitrovica, and Lulzim Hetemi, also from Self-Determination, became mayor of Leposavic. Iljir Peci and Izmir Zeqiri from the Democratic Party of Kosovo assumed mayoral posts in Zvecan and Zubin Potok, respectively.

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/4wzfsffe

University of Belgrade law student denied entry into Serbia (FoNet, N1)

Helena Strugar, a student at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, has been denied entry into Serbia, a move she described as a continuation of unlawful pressure and persecution, FoNet reported.

Strugar, a Serb from Montenegro, was informed on April 16 at a border crossing between Serbia and Montenegro that her name was listed in a system flagging her for entry denial into Serbia.

In a written statement released by Helena and her family, they said she was held in official premises for over an hour, during which border officials told her they were waiting for further instructions from superiors and were unsure of the legal basis for the ban.

They believe the action may be linked to a violent attack on January 13, when masked thugs brutally assaulted several of her fellow students. Strugar tried to intervene by stepping between the attackers and the victims and was herself injured.

According to Helena and her family, she managed in that chaotic moment to record the attackers’ faces with her phone. That footage later served as a key piece of evidence in the prosecution’s case against the perpetrators.

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/4s8sbntb