The Serb former mayor of the Zubin Potok municipality, Slavisa Ristic, was questioned by EU rule-of-law mission prosecutors over the murder of a Kosovo police officer in 2011. Ristic was questioned by EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX prosecutors at the basic court in Mitrovica on Monday over suspected involvement in an attack in July 2011 in Zubin Potok, in which a member of Kosovo’s police special unit was killed. “Ristic appeared voluntarily before the prosecutors,” EULEX spokesperson Dragana Nikolic-Solomon told BIRN. The ex-mayor was recently elected as the vice-president of the Democratic

A witness told the trial of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s ‘Drenica Group’ cell, accused of assaulting prisoners during the 1998-99 war, that her husband was seriously beaten at a KLA jail. The protected prosecution witness, codenamed Witness K, told the court in Mitrovica on Monday that her husband suffered severe beatings at the KLA detention centre in Likovc/Likovac in 1998.

The authorities in Pristina said that ex-guerrillas verified as having fought for the Kosovo Liberation Army against Serbian forces will get veterans’ pensions from January. The government commission tasked with verifying who fought for the Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1998-99 conflict has announced that veterans will start to receive benefits from January 2015. A total of 66,300 people have applied for war veteran status, but only 16,000 have been judged to be genuine so far, the commission’s director Faik Fazliu told Kosovo media.

17 Sep 14 If Victor Ponta wins the presidential poll in Romania, Kosovo will be waiting to see if he acts on his pledge to rethink Romania’s opposition to Kosovo’s independence. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina Victor Ponta said he would rethink Romania’s opposition to Kosovo’s independence | Photo by: Wikimedia Commons / anti.usl Refusal to recognise Kosovo’s independence by five EU member states is often singled out as one of the main obstacles slowing Kosovo’s European and Atlantic integration process. More than six years since it unilaterally declared independence from Serbia, Kosovo is st

6 Aug 14 Serb political party leader Oliver Ivanovic pleaded not guilty to committing war crimes during the Kosovo conflict and inciting the murder of Albanians during clashes that erupted afterwards. Gordana Andric BIRN Belgrade "I'm absolutely not guilty," Ivanovic told the first hearing in the war crimes case against him in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica on Monday. A former Serbian government official and head of a Kosovo Serb political party called Freedom, Democracy, Justice, Ivanovic is accused of war crimes by ordering the murder of four ethnic Albanians in Mitrovica on April

22 Aug 14 An extraordinary general election may be on the cards after the Constitutional Court annulled the election of an opposition speaker. Pristina

21 Aug 14 At a Constitutional Court hearing on Thursday, Kosovo's two main political blocs argued about which of them has the right to nominate the speaker of parliament. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina The court hearing should pave the way for a ruling designed to end a political stalemate in Kosovo over the election of a speaker - and the formation of a new government. The Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, is contesting the election of an opposition politician, Isa Mustafa, as speaker. Three months on from the general elections, the election of a speaker is a matter of urgency as only then c

21 Aug 14 Investigators have failed to find more corpses of Kosovo Albanian victims during a renewed search at a quarry in southern Serbia where 45 bodies have already been exhumed. Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina The Kosovo government’s missing persons commission told BIRN that the search launched three weeks ago at the Rudnica quarry near the southern Serbian town of had failed to uncover any further human remains. “The searches will continue until the whole location is verified. But I think that this process will end very soon.

20 Aug 14 As Kosovo’s post-election deadlock continues, the constitutional court this week will hear more arguments over which political bloc has the right to name the speaker. Pristina Kosovo’s Constitutional Court is due to hold a hearing session on Thursday when the two major political blocs will present additional arguments on which one has the right to nominate a candidate for the post of speaker of the Assembly. The hearing is expected to pave the w