31 Oct 14
The family of three murder victims called for a retrial after allegations that an EU rule-of-law mission judge in Kosovo took a bribe to clear one of the suspects.

Jeta Xharra, Petrit Collaku
BIRN
Pristina

The scandal that hit the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo (EULEX) this week when one of its prosecutors accused a judge of corruption has taken a new turn after the Baftiu family called for the murder case to be reopened in light of the claims that one suspect paid a bribe to avoid conviction.

31 Oct 14
While Kosovo remains stuck in political deadlock, economists warn that the failure to form a government that can approve the budget risks pushing Kosovo into a fiscal limbo.

Nektar Zogjani
BIRN
Pristina

Ibrahim Rexhepi, an economic expert, said the five-month political deadlock in Kosovo on forming a new government following the general elections had damaged the economy - and worse is to come. “The crisis will be more obvious in the first months of next year,” he predicted.

30 Oct 14
EULEX prosecutor Maria Bamieh and judge Francesco Florit spoke in detail to BIRN's Jeta ne Kosove TV programme about corruption allegations which have rocked the EU rule-of law-mission in Kosovo.
BIRN

Suspended prosecutor Maria Bamieh, who this week accused her former EULEX colleague, Italian judge Francesco Florit, of taking a 300,000 euro bribe to clear a man accused of murder and seeking another bribe in a corruption case against a Kosovo government official, spoke at length to the BIRN programme on Thursday evening about why she decided to go public.

30 Oct 14
The head of the EU’s Kosovo rule-of-law mission rejected one of its prosecutor’s claims that it ignored internal corruption allegations and insisted it was investigating the alleged graft.

Petrit Collaku
BIRN
Pristina

Gabriele Meucci, the head of EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, told a press conference in Pristina on Thursday that EULEX was probing allegations by suspended prosecutor Maria Bamieh that one of its former judges took bribes.

29 Oct 14
The Kosovo President is mulling whether to attend the Trilateral Commission in Belgrade, amid arguments that she should not attend a conference in a country that does not recognise her own.

Nektar Zogjani
BIRN
Pristina

Days before she is due to attend a major conference in Serbia, the President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, is still mulling whether to attend the event or not.

29 Oct 14
An EU rule-of-law mission special prosecutor in Kosovo said that a senior official at the European judicial body took bribes to free suspects accused of serious crimes.

Petrit Collaku
BIRN
Pristina

Special prosecutor Maria Bamieh told BIRN that she discovered from records of phone surveillance in cases that she was investigating that an official at the EU rule-of-law mission (EULEX) took bribes to release suspects accused of murder and corruption.

28 Oct 14
Kosovo's main journalists' union has called a protest rally in Pristina following an incident in which a member of the public stabbed a Klan Kosova journalist inside the TV studio.

Nektar Zogjani
BIRN
Pristina

Journalists in Kosovo are to hold a protest rally in Pristina following an alarming incident in which a journalist was stabbed at the workplace.

Milot Hasmija, an editor with the Pristina-based Klan Kosovo television station, was stabbed in the neck and head several times on Monday by an intruder in the TV studio.

27 Oct 14
Ombudsperson’s case against judges’ reappointments to the Constitutional Court could disable the court and result in the President’s impeachment.

Pristina Kosovo Constitutional Court has yet to decide whether it will hear a legal challenge questioning the legitimacy of the three international judges serving on it - and the President’s decree that confirmed their re-appointment.

27 Oct 14

Kosovo Serb refugees called for US embassy in Pristina to protect their rights, claiming they are forbidden to return to their houses in Kosovo.

Belgrade

27 Oct 14
In the village of Restelica, home to an unusual minority language-speaking community, parents must decide whether their children’s future is better served by a Kosovo education or a Serbian one.

Una Hajdari
Restelica

The building in the mountain village of Restelica looks like many primary schools all over Kosovo, showing its age in its yellowing, cracked facade. Outside, rosy-cheeked kids chat amongst themselves.