Vetevendosje MPs, Albin Kurti and Donika Kadaj Bujupi were brought this morning handcuffed at the Basic Court in Pristina. The other two MPs from Vetevendosje Movement, Albulena Haxhiu and Faton Topalli also arrived at the court. Kosovo Assembly MPs from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) are also present as the damaged party. However, witnesses Armend Zemaj, Naser Osmani and Kadri Veseli are not present at the court session.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo police on Friday arrested a top opposition leader and two other lawmakers accused of disrupting the work of the previous parliament with tear gas and violent acts.

Albin Kurti, Donika Kadaj Bujupi and Albulena Haxhiu of the left-wing Self-Determination Party were arrested while entering the parliament building.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/kosovo-top-opposition-leader-2-other-lawmakers-arrested/

The leader of the Vetevendosje Movement, Visar Ymeri reacted to the arrest of Vetevendosje MPs. “The three MPs of the Assembly of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, Donika Kadaj-Bujupi dhe Albin Kurti were arrested in a brutal manner by the Police of the Republic of Kosovo, based on political orders, while they were entering the session. So the three MPs were coming at the session called for today.

Kosovo Police has arrested these moments the Vetevendosje Movement MP Albin Kurti.

A great number of police officers was seen at the main entrance of the Assembly of Kosovo.

After receiving the arrest warrant by judge Beqir Kalludra, Kosovo Police, based on the Law, arrested Kurti, Albulena Haxhiu and Donika Kadaj-Bujupi while entering the Kosovo Assembly.

The three Vetevendosje Movement MPs Albin Kurti, Albulena Haxhiu and Donika Kadaj –Bukupi are being accused by the Court for throwing teargas at the Assembly.

Referring to an unofficial document on nomination of Serb judges in the north of Kosovo,  Vetevendosje Movement MP Albin Kurti, said these judges were nominated by signing a statement which does not mention Kosovo state and its Constitution anywhere in its text.

He also said the declaration does not mention loyalty of Serb judges towards Kosovo.

Court session on Vetevendosje MPs charged for throwing teargas at the Assembly of Kosovo failed again. The reason for these postponements is absence of Albin Kurti and Donika Kadaj Bujupi. The court had issued an order to Kosovo Police to bring the two MPs to the court by force. “The Court has issued an order for Kosovo Police to bring them in by force. Respective stations received the orders of this Court however,  we have not received so far any information if they acted in accordance with the order or not,” said judge Beqir Kalludra.

In an interview to KTV, Vetevendosje MP Albin Kurti said President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci is the person who has the least right to initiate the setting up of a unity team to represent Kosovo in talks with Serbia. “You have to be a unifying person to create a unity team. If there is one person that has no legitimacy to set up a unity team, that is Thaci,” Kurti said. He also noted that Kosovo should wait for the outcome of the internal dialogue in Serbia on Kosovo and “not interfere in Serbia’s internal affairs like Serbia does in Kosovo’s.”

“How will Nenad Rikalo protect the interests of the Serb people in our southern province, when he proudly notes the fact that “for four years he was a member of a board of the SOROS foundation, together with Shpend Ahmeti, Ilir Deda and other prominent intellectuals from Pristina?”” Serbian Radical Party (SRS) said to the Serbian media.

The SRS also considers Rikalo’s appointment as “particularly scandalous” given that based on his own testimony “he is a reputable SOROS member and a friend of Albin Kurti,” media further reported.

Vetevendosje MP Albin Kurti said that the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, Nenad Rikalo, should be dismissed after his former neighbours in Pristina accused him of personal involvement in the mistreatment of a couple of Albanian students during the 1998-99 conflict. In a Facebook post, Kurti said the statement of Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj that he was assured by relevant security institutions that Rikalo was not involved in any wrongful acts during the conflict is ‘absurd’ and ‘premature’.

Vetevendosje MP, Albin Kurti, said Kosovo is not only kept ‘hostage’ by the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo and new Assembly speaker, Kadri Veseli, but also by Serbia and ‘its party in Kosovo’, the Serbian List. “Kosovo is not only a captured state. The state of Kosovo is being held hostage,” Kurti wrote on Facebook.