The Special Prosecution asked police to interview people in Pristina who made allegations that Kosovo’s new Serb agriculture minister Nenad Rikalo tortured Albanians during the war - a claim he denies.

The head of the Kosovo Special Prosecution, Reshat Millaku, told BIRN on Wednesday that police have interviewed several people who alleged that Nenad Rikalo, Kosovo’s new agriculture minister, was allegedly involved in the torture of Albanians during the 1990s war.

A group of NGOs, authorized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to receive applications for recognition of status to the victims of sexual violence during the conflict, requested the government of Kosovo to allocate the budget for the process of verification and recognition. The NGOs said that despite all actions taken with regards to setting up the committee that would look into the applications, there is still no budget allocated for the purpose.

Kosovo Minister for Agriculture, Forest and Rural Development, Nenad Rikalo rejected accusations that he mistreated Albanians during the war in Kosovo, calling them untrue and ill-intended. Rikalo said the aim of such accusations is to discredit him, Srpska Lista and the newly established Kosovo Government, Serbian media reported.

Rikalo also added that from 2001 to 2003, he worked at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, and since 2003 he is actively engaged in the civil sector working on reconciliation among communities and social development.

Commenting on the documentary movie of the Serbian Government against membership of Kosovo to UNESCO, Kosovo Government called the movie low, racist and without precedent. Meanwhile, Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, in a reaction to the Pristina statement, said this is the first great acknowledgment for the movie, Serbian media reported.

“We will continue to support projects revealing the truth about our heritage in Kosovo and Metohija,” Marko Djuric said to Tanjug and congratulated the crew who prepared the movie.

Rahim Pacolli, secretary of the New Kosovo Alliance, asked Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj to dismiss Agriculture Minister Nenad Rikalo, reports KIM radio.

Pacolli claims that Rikalo has committed war crimes in Kosovo, and that he should therefore be tried and punished.

Aleksandar Vucic late on Tuesday said that Kosovo and Metohija represents the essence of the political "present time, and the future" of Serbia.

Besides, the Serbian president said that he supported the decision of the Serb (Srpska) List to enter the Kosovo government - while Serbia "would not change its opinion" on the new Kosovo government's head, Ramush Haradinaj.

The Serbian list has the strength and the government in Pristina depends on the List, says President of the Serbian List Goran Rakić in the News of the Radio Television of Serbia.

He says that Serbian list will not blackmail that ''will not push a finger in the eyes of the Albanians'' but that they will be a stone in a shoe that will constantly remind Pristina of its obligations, Rakić told RTS.

Minister of State Administration Branko Ružić believes that the interest of Serbia and the Kosovo Serbs is maximal involvement in the work of Kosovo institutions, and one should not be guided by emotions or myths.

"It is our interest to be maximally involved in order to preserve, above all, the right to the existence of the 150,000 Serbs living down there," Ružić said, commenting on the formation of a new Kosovo government, led by Ramush Haradinaj.

RTK2 reports that, in the new Kosovo government led by Ramush Haradinaj, the Serbian list should receive three ministries.

According to RTK2, the Serbian List will have the Minister of Local Government and Administration, and headed by Ivan Teodosijević, who performed the same function before the elections.

Serbian List will have a Minister of Returns, and this should be Dalibor Jevtić, who in the previous two mandates held this post.

The participation of the Serbian List in the Kosovo Government does not mean support for Ramush Haradinaj, said chairman of the Assembly's Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Milovan Drecun for N1.

Drecun believes that the legitimacy of Haradinaj's support in the Kosovo elections cannot be denied, and that the Serbian List made a good move.