UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, October 20, 2025

Albanian Language Media:

Police operation in the north related to killing of EULEX officer in 2013 (media)
Thousands join protest in Tirana in support of ex-KLA leaders in Hague (media)
Constitutional Court is looking into complaint by Serbian List (media)
Osmani on German Unity Day: Ever-growing partnership and friendship (media)
Atiq: Serbian List won elections with threats against people (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Seven detained and released on Sunday in Zvecan and Zubin Potok in connection with 2013 EULEX Officer murder (KoSSev)
Office for KiM: Seven arrested in Zubin Potok and Zvecan raids (KoSSev, media)
Serbian List: Arrests in the north - the continuation of the terror of Kurti's regime (KiM radio, media)
CI "North for All" on Sunday's raids: "Film actions for political points" (KoSSev)
Sekerinska: Kosovo was not exposed to security threats from Serbian drones (Kosovo Online, Tanjug)

International Media:

Protesters in Albania demand ‘justice’ in Kosovo wartime leaders’ trial (BIRN)
Breast cancer awareness festival helps Kosovo women reclaim their bodies (PI)
Serbia’s SSP and Kosovo’s LVV new associated members of PES (EWB)

Albanian Language Media

Police operation in the north related to killing of EULEX officer in 2013 (media)

The Special Prosecution of Kosovo said that seven people were stopped during a police operation in Zvecan and Zubin Potok in the north of Kosovo on Sunday, in relation to investigations into the killing of an official of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) in 2013. “During the operation, which was supported by other relevant units of Kosovo Police, seven people were sent to the police station, and after being interviewed they were released in regular procedure,” the Special Prosecution said in a statement. It also noted that during raids in nine locations – seven in Zubin Potok and two in Zvecan – it confiscated material evidence, including two weapons, ammunition, clothing with nationalistic content, binoculars, documents, different electronic devices. “The Special Prosecution and the Kosovo Police reiterate their commitment to the fight against organized crime and bringing to justice those that threaten security, law and order in the Republic of Kosovo,” the statement notes.

Several news websites report that Audrius Senavicius, from Lithuania, was the first EULEX officer to have been killed on duty since the deployment of the mission in Kosovo. He was killed during an ambush in Zvecan in September 2013, when two EULEX vehicles came under attack.

Thousands join protest in Tirana in support of ex-KLA leaders in Hague (media)

One of the main stories in the media over the weekend was the protest in Tirana, Albania, in support of former KLA leaders who are standing trial in the Hague. Thousands took part in the protest organized by the Organization of KLA War Veterans. The latter said that the trial in the Hague is unfair and one-sided. “We are here to defend the sacred war of the Kosovo Liberation Army and to defend the honor of our liberators. History has proven that the KLA was a liberation army,” KLA War Veterans leader Hysni Gucati said in his address to the protest. He also argued that “unfair courts” were trying to equalize the victim with the aggressor. “We will not allow the names of our sacred commanders to be stained. This protest has nothing to do with politics. This is a protest of the Albanian people. We are not asking for mercy but justice … Kosovo fought for its liberation, and we were not criminals. The Special Court has lost the trust of the Albanians,” he said.

Constitutional Court is looking into complaint by Serbian List (media)

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo has confirmed that it is looking into the Serbian List’s complaint about the election of the Kosovo Assembly deputy speaker from the Kosovo Serb community. The SL argued that the election of Nenad Rasic as deputy speaker violated the Constitution, the work regulation of the Assembly, and a previous decision by the Constitutional Court. The Court did not say if it is considering a temporary measure which has been requested by the SL.

The ninth legislative was declared constituted on October 10 after Rasic was elected deputy speaker from the Kosovo Serb community and after the SL had exhausted all nine nominations.

One day after the constitution of the legislative, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani gave Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti the mandate to form a new government. He has eight days left to present a new government to the Assembly.

Osmani on German Unity Day: Ever-growing partnership and friendship (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in a post on X that she was delighted to join a reception organized by the German Embassy in Pristina to mark German Unity Day “and to celebrate the ever-growing partnership and enduring friendship between our two peoples”.

See her full address at: https://tinyurl.com/ycymu9jb

Atiq: Serbian List won elections with threats against people (media)

Mitrovica North Mayor Erden Atiq said on Sunday that the Serbian List won in the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo in the October 12 local elections “with blackmails and threats against the people”. “It is very concerning that the Serbian List instrumentalizes people and blackmails them with salaries lists and lists of social assistance they get from the Serbian state. I hope that our institutions will do something in this regard so that Serb citizens in the future can vote free from pressure and influence from the Serbian List,” he argued.

Atiq said that in three years as mayor of Mitrovica North, he served all communities without distinction. “We tried to allocate the budget to capital investments and the work we did we tried to do it equally for all citizens. I believe this helped change the perception that Serbs in the municipality have toward the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo. This proves a great decline of the Serbian List of over 50 percent in these local elections compared to the previous elections,” he said.

Serbian Language Media

Seven detained and released on Sunday in Zvecan and Zubin Potok in connection with 2013 EULEX Officer murder (KoSSev)

Seven individuals were detained and later released on Sunday following police raids in the northern Kosovo municipalities of Zvecan and Zubin Potok, as part of the ongoing investigation into the 2013 killing of an EULEX customs officer, the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office confirmed, reported KoSSev.

The arrests were carried out under orders from the Basic Court in Pristina, led by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in cooperation with the Kosovo Police. According to their joint statement, the operation took place at two locations in Zvecan and seven in Zubin Potok.

After being questioned, all seven individuals were released.

However, police said they seized several pieces of material evidence, including two firearms, ammunition, clothing with nationalist symbols, binoculars, documents, and various electronic devices. Authorities did not specify the exact locations where the items were found or to whom they belonged.

The searches were conducted under suspicions of criminal offenses related to “endangering United Nations personnel or personnel associated with them, aggravated murder, and assault on an official during the performance of official duties,” the statement said.

The raids are linked to the unsolved murder of EULEX customs officer Audrius Senavicius, who was fatally shot on September 19, 2013, on the main road between North Mitrovica and Leposavic, near Balaban in the municipality of Zvecan. At the time, EULEX reported that two mission vehicles carrying six staff members came under fire. Senavicius, a Lithuanian national, was seriously wounded and later died from his injuries at the Health Center in North Mitrovica. He was the first EULEX officer killed since the mission began its work in Kosovo.

Office for KiM: Seven arrested in Zubin Potok and Zvecan raids (KoSSev, media)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced in a statement that seven people were arrested on Sunday morning in police raids in the northern Kosovo municipalities of Zubin Potok and Zvecan.

“In continuation of the brutal physical and legal repression against the Serbian people, Albin Kurti this morning ordered the arrest of Serbs in Zubin Potok and Zvecan, during which seven of our compatriots were detained,” the Office for KiM said.

They claimed the operation began around 6 a.m. and that heavily armed special police units “broke into” homes “to intimidate and spread fear among Serbian families who have lived in these areas for decades.”

According to the statement, the operation lasted several hours and involved “breaking down doors of Serbian houses, conducting searches, and carrying out arbitrary arrests.”

The Office for KiM described the raids as “Albin Kurti’s retaliation” against Serbs in the North following the recent local elections held on October 12 and alleged that “the nervousness of Pristina after its electoral defeat is now being compensated at the expense of the Serbian people.”

They said legal assistance would be provided to the detained individuals and that international representatives would be informed about the arrests.

Serbian List: Arrests in the north - the continuation of the terror of Kurti's regime (KiM radio, media)

"Today's arrests of Serbs in Zubin Potok and Zvecan represent a continuation of the organized terror of the regime of Albin Kurti against the Serbian people in Kosovo," announced Serbian List on Sunday.

As the SL stated ''special units of the Kosovo police in full war gear broke into several Serbian homes in the early hours of the morning, breaking down doors and causing fear and panic among the citizens''.

"This is a bare demonstration of force and an attempt to intimidate our people. Such actions represent an open form of political retaliation against the Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, after the convincing victory of the SL in the recent elections. It is an expression of the nervousness and inability of Pristina, which is trying to compensate for its electoral defeat by persecuting the innocent," they added.

They called on people to remain calm and united among other things, reported KiM radio.

CI "North for All" on Sunday's raids: "Film actions for political points" (KoSSev)

The Civic Initiative ''North for All" reacted to the Sunday raids carried out by Kosovo police in Zvecan and Zubin Potok and said that ''Kurti's goal is to create insecurity and anxiety in every individual by criminalizing a good part of the Serbian community, which would speed up the process of silent emigration''. They said that ''allegations of police brutality'' confirmed this.

This civic initiative strongly condemned this police action in Zubin Potok and Zvecan as part of the investigation into the murder of the EULEX official A.Š. in 2013.

They believe that in addition to what they consider to be "film" actions, there are other means of ensuring the presence of suspects that are not so theatrical.

However, they added, ''film actions serve to score cheap political points and bring unrest into the ranks of the Serbian community." They had a message for the international community.

"The civil initiative ''North for All' reminds the representatives of the international community that in contrast to violence, ethnocentrism, totalitarianism and the false fight for the rule of law, there are dialogue, inclusion, positive discrimination and amnesty — methods and means that are well known to them and that they themselves used in the past or supported their use in the region," they stated in the statement.

Sekerinska: Kosovo was not exposed to security threats from Serbian drones (Kosovo Online, Tanjug)

Deputy Secretary General of the Alliance Radmila Sekerinska dismissed the claims made by representatives of Kosovo’s institutions that Serbia violated Kosovo’s airspace using drones, reported Kosovo Online, citing Klan Kosova.

In an interview for Klan Kosova, Sekerinska said she could confirm that there were no security threats in that regard.

“We do not comment on reports of this kind. But what is certain is that KFOR is indeed responsible for monitoring Kosovo’s airspace. And I can only confirm that there were no security threats in that regard,” she said.

She added that the fact that Kosovo had not faced any security threats was a positive development, noting that this was information they were “more than ready to share with the public.”

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/3ezzy4ym

International Media

Protesters in Albania demand ‘justice’ in Kosovo wartime leaders’ trial (BIRN)

Hundreds of supporters of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s wartime struggle against Serbian forces rallied in the Albanian capital Tirana on Friday to protest against the war crimes trial of Kosovo’s former President Hashim Thaci and three other ex-KLA officers in The Hague.

Rallying at the main Skenderbeu Square, protesters held banners with slogans like “We will not allow history to be rewritten in The Hague”, “Freedom for the liberators”, “The Special Court is not justice but international betrayal”.

One protesters, 67-year-old Raif Aliu, said he travelled from Tetovo in North Macedonia to join the rally. “I came here because they are innocent.” Aliu said. “I feel very sorry [for them],” he added.

Hysni Gucati, head of the KLA war veterans’ organisation, told the crowd that by trying Thaci and his co-defendants Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court is “trying to equate the victim with the executioner”.

“We are here to defend the sacred war [against Serbian forces]… The entire world has seen the Serbian [war] crimes,” Gucati said.

“Tirana today is the capital of all Albanians and today we are telling the whole world that Kosovo fought for its freedom,” he added.