UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his latest report expressed regret because of the slow pace of Kosovo's institutions in the formation of a Special court for crimes of so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), but also warned that "Islamic state" threatens Kosovo.

The report covers period from 16 April to 15 July this year, and was released at the eve of the UN Security Council session dedicated to Kosovo and Metohija, which will be held on 21 August.

Investigators of EULEX mission have ended the investigation against Chief of Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic, the Police General Bratislav Dikic and former head of the Military Security Agency Momir Stojanovic.

They could be found on the indictments of the recently established Special Court for war crimes in Kosovo, as soon as it begins with its work, learns Nase novine from sources close to EULEX.

Serious accusations

Interview: Vladimir Vukcevic, the War crimes prosecutor

The Prime Minister said recently that only the case of murder of the Bytyqi brothers hampers excellent relations with the United States. Is there any progress in the case that you took over?

Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), said in an interview with Epoka e Re that Kosovo should go to early national elections in October this year “in order to save itself from the bad governance of [Prime Minister] Isa Mustafa”. Haradinaj did not rule out the possibility of the AAK, Initiative for Kosovo and the Vetevendosje Movement, running with a joint list in the event of early elections. The AAK leader also said that the special court is an unnecessary experiment and that it benefits only Prime Minister Mustafa.

Publicist and former publisher of Koha Ditore, Veton Surroi, claims that on the day Kosovo Assembly approved constitutional amendment paving way for establishment of the special court, it also made the following statement: that Kosovo and international institutions (UNMIK, EULEX), were and are not capable of dealing with crimes alleged in the Council of Europe’s report. As a result of this, Kosovo institutions gave up part of sovereignty and delegate it to an external force.

The Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor and the Law on legal defense and financial support for potential indicted persons by the special court were sent yesterday to Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga for endorsement. The Constitution of Kosovo gives an eight day deadline to the President to decree or reject the Laws.

Klan Kosova’s executive director Baton Haxhiu writes in an op-ed that there is not list of possible indictees of the special court. “There are only witnesses and over 200 interviews and allegations of possible crimes”, he writes. All else is speculation and part of smear campaign against certain individuals, adds Haxhiu. He claims that the list that has been making rounds in the media circles has managed to trick many media outlets into reproducing it, including his television network, and this has seriously violated professional ethics.

Kosovo’s Justice Minister, Hajredin Kuci, said today that the special court’s headquarters has not been decided yet and that this issue is still being negotiated. Even though Kuci refused to give more details on the special court, the news site writes that it is already known that special court will be sponsored and managed by the European Union.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a reply to the news site saying that it has yet to decide whether or not the Netherlands will host he special court that will address war crimes allegations in Kosovo. “The Dutch Government has yet to decide whether it will host the Tribunal,” Chris Bakker, an information officer at the Dutch Foreign Ministry said. “As a result, we cannot give more information on the location, expenses or the selection of judges”.

The two laws related to the special court, approved on the day of constitutional amendments by the Assembly of Kosovo through an accelerated procedure, have not been submitted to the President of Kosovo for the decree, even nine days after being voted.