Kosovo MP, Slavko Simic harshly criticized some politicians in the Kosovo Assembly yesterday, saying they create “an atmosphere of lynch” against Minister of Agriculture, Nenad Rikalo, KIM Radio reported.
Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, said today that information from relevant institutions do not support allegations that Minister of Agriculture, Nenad Rikalo, was involved in any criminal offence during the conflict in Kosovo.
Kosovo’s chief prosecutor, Aleksander Lumezi, said the prosecutors are currently in the process of collecting information regarding the past activity of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, Nenad Rikalo, and have asked to this end assistance from the Council for Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, the Humanitarian Law Centre, and minister’s former neighbours.
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development Nenad Rikalo met with the Director of the World Bank Office in Kosovo, Marco Mantovanelli, with whom he discussed the current processes in the development of agriculture, as well as the goals of the ministry in order to further strengthen this sector.
As announced by the Ministry, Rikalo thanked the World Bank for its support to the agricultural sector that given concrete and significant results.
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.
“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’.
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.
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.
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.