Headlines - 05.07.2013 Amnesty draft law fails to pass Assembly vote (dailies) Assembly of Kosovo did not approve in yesterday’s session draft law on amnesty with the motion receiving 70 out of 80 necessary votes in order to pass. Apart from Vetëvendosje MPs who voted against the law, there were also two MPs from the ruling Democratic Party and three from the Democratic League who voted against although the rest of their party-MPs supported the motion. In justifying the need for the law’s approval, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Hajredin Kuçi said amnesty will not include the killers of KP officer Enver Zymberi and Selver Haradinaj in the north. He also noted that the law does not contain any territorial or ethnic division and will demonstrate humanity towards citizens. Amnesty law undermines rule of law efforts (Koha Ditore) 34 Kosovo non-governmental organizations have signed an open letter to Quint countries and EU office in Kosovo expressing their objection to the amnesty draft law. They argued that approval of the law in the current version will undermine all efforts for establishing rule of law in Kosovo but acknowledged that amnesty is in principle necessary for integrating the northern part of Kosovo. “Nevertheless, amnesty for this part of Kosovo cannot be a general amnesty for 69 criminal offences in other parts of Kosovo”, the letter reads. NGOs recommend the draft law undergoes a review and debate as well as democratic expertise enabling the civil society to be an active participant in the process. Assembly doesn’t vote two draft laws of Kosovo-Serbia agreement (Koha Ditore) Two draft laws deriving from the recent agreement between Kosovo and Serbia on normalization of relations have not been put to vote by Kosovo Assembly yesterday. These included amendments to the law on local self-government and law on protection and promotion of rights of communities. The changes would make the association of municipalities with Serb majority different in status from the existing association of Kosovo municipalities. Vetëvendosje seeks Constitutional Court ruling on Brussels agreement (Koha) The Vetëvendosje Movement on Thursday submitted to the Constitutional Court a request to assess whether the law for the ratification of the Brussels agreement is in line with the Constitution of Kosovo. Vetëvendosje parliamentary group chief, Visar Ymeri, said based on previous cases one could doubt the Court’s immunity in the face of political pressure. “But we still think that it is the duty of this court to make decisions based on the Constitution and not based on political positions in Kosovo. We call on the Constitutional Court to decide on our request based on constitutional principles and the spirit of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, and not based on people who cry democracy during the day but then at night violate every institutional principle and rule in Kosovo,” Ymeri added. Burns: Serbia should realize it will not get Kosovo back (Tribuna) Former US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said for VOA that agreement between Kosovo and Serbia is an important step in the right direction. “Agreement is a step forward although it doesn’t go as far as we would want to. I think it is time now for the Government of Serbia to recognize that Kosovo is an independent country, that it will not go back to any dependency from Serbia after that bloody war,” Burns said. Serbs create “Assembly of Autonomous Province of Kosovo” (dailies) Representatives of four Serb majority municipalities in northern Kosovo on Thursday established the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and said Kosovo would remain part of Serbia. Slavko Stefanovic, member of the SPS and mayor of Leposavic municipality, was elected chairman of the assembly. Kosta Galak (SNS) from Mitrovica and Dobrosav Cosic (SRS) from Zvecan were elected deputy chairpersons. In the next couple of days, another two deputy chairpersons will be elected from other parts of Kosovo. The Assembly issued a statement rejecting Kosovo’s independence. “We oppose the declaration of independence by the breakaway movement of Albanians as anti-constitutional and illegitimate,” the statement said. OSCE only a facilitating role in local elections (Zëri) The Serbian and Kosovo delegations reached an agreement in Brussels on Thursday whereby the OSCE mission will have a facilitating role in local elections that will be held in Kosovo on November 3^rd. The agreement was qualified as very successful and part of the agreement for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The meetings were aimed at defining a facilitating role for the OSCE in the four Serb majority municipalities. The role will be determined through an agreement that the Kosovo Central Election Committee and the OSCE will sign soon.