UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, October 12, 2021

Osmani: Serbia continues undermining the state of Kosovo (media)
KSC judge asks Kosovo Police to declare whether it can enforce interim release conditions (media)
Miftaraj: Pre-trial judge's request is unreasonable (Koha)
Pressure for Association increases (Koha)
Kosovo Court Annuls Decision on Energy Bills in Serb-Dominated North (BIRN)
Abdixhiku: International community to be convinced to be on Kosovo’s side (Kanal 10)
Kosovo mayoral candidates unveil plans to fight extremism (BIRN)
Voters not to be requested vaccination certificates on election day (Telegrafi)
COVID-19: Two deaths, 14 new cases (media)

Osmani: Serbia continues undermining the state of Kosovo (media)

President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani reacted to the Non-Aligned Movement conference in Belgrade saying that "Serbia is continuing its efforts to undermine the state of Kosovo with forged arguments and narratives."

Osmani accused Serbia of causing the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and of violating NAM principles. “As a colonizing state with destabilizing policies, denying the genocide committed against innocent civilians and with actions that are day in and day out in conflict with the efforts for peace and stability in our region, Serbia thus proves that it is in contravention of the values upon which the NAM is built.”

She added: “Kosovo's independence has been recognized by a considerable number of NAM member states. The International Court of Justice in 2010 confirmed that Kosovo's declaration of independence does not violate international law. Therefore, I call on all NAM states which have not as yet recognized Kosovo to be guided by this interpretation of the ICJ and not by the Serbian propaganda, deeply rooted in the Milosevician mindset.

“In order to contribute to good neighborly relations between the two countries, Serbia must give up its efforts to undermine Kosovo's international position, through lobbying against Kosovo's membership in international organizations and by campaigning against the recognition of Kosovo's independence by other countries.”

Osmani concluded by saying she hoped that the NAM participating countries would “clearly reject Serbia's efforts to misuse the conference to pursue its destabilizing political agendas against the Republic of Kosovo and against other countries of our region.”

KSC judge asks Kosovo Police to declare whether it can enforce interim release conditions (media)

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers pre-trial judge in the case against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi has ordered the Kosovo Police to declare whether it can enforce the conditions attached to the possible interim release of the accused.

“Having regard to the conditions proposed by the Accused in relation to their applications for interim release and without prejudice to any determination to be made by the Pre-Trial Judge in relation to the decisions remanded by the Court of Appeals, the Pre-Trial Judge orders the Kosovo Police to, as further specified in the Annex to the present Order, provide information regarding: (i) the authority and capability of the Kosovo Police to restrict the movements of individuals subject to conditional release, monitor and restrict such individuals’ communications, administer house arrest, and the enforceability of conditions attaching to interim release; and (ii) previous instances of enforcing conditions attaching to the interim release or detention of persons accused of severe crimes. In addition, the Kosovo Police may provide any additional information that is considered to be relevant in relation to the enforcement of conditional release,” the order reads.

The Kosovo Police is further requested to provide the above information within two weeks of having received the Albanian translation of the judge's order.

Miftaraj: Pre-trial judge's request is unreasonable (Koha)

Reporting on the request made by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers pre-trial judge to the Kosovo Police to declare whether it can enforce the conditions attached to the possible interim release of the former KLA leaders who are awaiting trial at The Hague on war crimes charges, Koha quotes Ehat Miftaraj from the Kosovo Law Institute saying that there is reason to believe that the defendants - Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi - could soon be released on bail.

Miftaraj said however that the pre-trial judge's order to the Kosovo Police is unreasonable. "To me, such a request makes no sense because the Law on Specialist Chambers clearly stipulates that any decision taken by the Specialist Court has to be fully implemented by all institutions. The failure to implement such decisions constitutes a criminal act, that of obstruction of administration of justice," he said.

"The detainees will soon mark one year in a detention facility and I am convinced that the court will be forced to take some decision in the favour of the accused for the fact that the judicial proceedings against them have not yet started and based on what we as KLI have observed during the monitoring, September of next year could be the earliest possible scenario to commence," Miftaraj added.

Pressure for Association increases (Koha)

Koha reports on the front page that there is a mounting pressure on the Government of Kosovo on the issue of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities based on the statements from the EU officials following the agreement on license plates.

"No doubt the formation of the Association will be the topic of the next dialogue meeting," said Demush Shasha from the Pristina-based Epik Institute. He said the Kosovo institutions should insist on two principles in face of the growing pressure: "The first principle is that any discussion on the establishment o the Association should be done in the backdrop of the United States request and President Biden as well as the European Union regarding the achievement of the final agreement on normalisation of relations. In other words, the Kosovo side should be ready to discuss the formation of the Association but only as part of a broader final agreement on normalisation of relations where the Association would be one of the elements of the deal."

The second principle, Shasha continued, relates to the model of the Association. "Any type of model discussed for the establishment of an association should be a successful European model, namely any arrangement of this association should be fully in line with a successful experience implemented in one of the EU countries."

Kosovo Court Annuls Decision on Energy Bills in Serb-Dominated North (BIRN)

Pristina Basic Court on Monday said it has annulled a decision of Kosovo’s Energy Regulation Office, ERO, on the payment of electricity bills for consumers from four northern Serb-dominated municipalities – Mitrovica North, Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potok.

It ordered ERO to “get the Energy Distribution Company, KEDS, to return the billed amount, namely compensate the damage to consumers who have been billed for the energy spent in four Kosovo northern municipalities from 06.02 2012 to 20.10.2017 to the amount of 40,855,480.00 euros,” the court said.

The verdict, which can be challenged in the Court of Appeals, comes five years after the Basic Court put ERO’s decision under an interim measure following a complaint filed by the Ombudsperson.

Since then, electricity bills for consumers from the four municipalities have been paid by the Kosovo government.

In 2012, Ombudsperson launched an investigation into illegal billing of energy spent in the northern municipalities and found that consumers from the rest of Kosovo had been billed for around 8 million euros spent in these municipalities.

KEDS declined to comment to BIRN on the verdict. “We are a regulated company. This issue has to do with ERO and all decisions belong to this institution,” KEDS said.

In May this year, the government agreed to cover another six months of electricity bills run up in the mainly Serbian north of Kosovo, while pushing for a final resolution of a problem, which has cost Kosovo tax payers tens of millions of euros.

According to the plan, the public transmission enterprise, KOSTT, will be obliged to cover the unpaid bills in the north for six more months.

Serbs in the four northern municipalities have not paid for their electricity since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999. Since Kosovo declared independence in 2008, this situation has continued.