Three former Serbian fighters, including special police commander Vladan Krstovic, are accused of war crimes during an attack on the Kosovo village of Ljubenic that left 46 ethnic Albanians dead.

The case against Vladan Krstovic, Lazar Pavlovic and Milan Ivanovic for the attack on Ljubenic during the Kosovo war on April 1, 1999, during which 46 people were killed and 11 wounded, began on Monday at a closed pre-trial hearing at the Belgrade-based special court.

04 Sep 14

Nektar Zogjani BIRN Pristina

04 Sep 14
Dutch police are seeking to arrest doctor Yusuf Sonmez, accused by EU prosecutors in Kosovo of organised crime and people trafficking from a Pristina clinic where organ-trading took place.

Marija Ristic
BIRN
Belgrade

Dutch officers are attempting to detain Sonmez, a Turkish doctor accused of being a key figure involved in trafficking in human organs at the Medicus clinic in Pristina, after Kosovo informed them about his whereabouts, a source close to the investigation told BIRN on Thursday.

03 Sep 14
Pranvera Zena issued her emotional appeal after her husband took their eight-year-old son with him when he went to fight in the war in Syria.

Nektar Zogjani
BIRN
Pristina

Syrian insurgents in Aleppo | Wikimedia Commons

“Arben, how is it possible that lessons about wars, tanks and jihad are better than lessons about nature, art, animals and sport?” Pranvera Zena wrote in a message to her husband posted on Facebook after he took their child to Syria.

02 Sep 14

Serbian authorities say they have located Yusuf Sonmez - who the EU rule of law of mission in Kosovo, EULEX, has accused of people trafficking and organised crime - in Amsterdam.
Marija Ristic
BIRN
Belgrade
Yusuf Sonmez. Photo by BETA

Serbia's office for war crimes prosecution said Sonmez, orginally from Turkey, had been located in The Netherlands, in Amsterdam, last week.

“This information was passed to the EU chief prosecutor, Jonathan Rathel,” the Serbian prosecution office said.

01 Sep 14

Pristina

The EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, issued the arrest warrants on Monday after Stevan Vulovic, the mayor of the Zubin Potok municipality, and Slavisa Ristic, a former mayor of Zubin Potok, failed to turn up for interviews with a prosecutor.

27 Aug 14
Former Yugoslav Army general Nebojsa Pavkovic, convicted of murders and deportations in Kosovo in 1999, will serve his 22-year sentence in Finland, rather than in Serbia as Belgrade would like.
Milka Domanovic
BIRN
Belgrade

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced on Tuesday that former Yugoslav Army general Nebojsa Pavkovic, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in January, will be sent to a prison in Finland despite requests from Serbia for war crimes convicts to serve their jail time at home.

26 Aug 14

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.

18 Aug 14

Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic will go on trial on August 26 for war crimes during the Kosovo conflict as well as committing murder during clashes that erupted afterwards.

Marija Ristic
BIRN
Belgrade

Ivanovic, a former Serbian government official and head of a Kosovo Serb political party called Freedom, Democracy, Justice, will appear before Kosovo judges for the first time at the Basic Court in Mitrovica next Tuesday, his lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic said.