Agim Bahtiri, the Mayor of Mitrovica municipality, has reacted today to the decision of the European Union Office in Pristina to allocate a €8.5 million grant for northern Serb-majority municipalities. “I have nothing against the decision of the EU Office to allocate grants for municipalities administered by Serbs in the northern part of the Republic of Kosovo. I support this decision and I think that the development grants will contribute to the consolidation and full integration of Serbs in the system of the Republic of Kosovo.

The Serb former mayor of the Zubin Potok municipality, Slavisa Ristic, was questioned by EU rule-of-law mission prosecutors over the murder of a Kosovo police officer in 2011.

Ristic was questioned by EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX prosecutors at the basic court in Mitrovica on Monday over suspected involvement in an attack in July 2011 in Zubin Potok, in which a member of Kosovo’s police special unit was killed.

“Ristic appeared voluntarily before the prosecutors,” EULEX spokesperson Dragana Nikolic-Solomon told BIRN.

Professor Aleksandar Djikic was elected yesterday as the chairperson of a newly formed Serbian National Forum (SNF) at the election assembly held in North Mitrovica.

Djikic addressed the assembly and said that Serbian intellectuals in Kosovo and Metohija need to get involved in settling problems in the province and that SNF is the right address for them to refer to in their efforts to assist in settling of piled-up problems. “Current involvement of intellectuals in everyday life is very symbolic,” said Djikic.

After the consecutive attacks on the properties of Albanians throughout Serbia, Belgrade officials have now started to slander that the same thing is happening to Serb properties in Kosovo.

However, Kosovo Police claims that there were no incidents in Mitrovica south since 14 October, when the football match between Albania and Serbia in Belgrade was interrupted in a violent manner.

Unidentified persons burnt the flag of the Republic of Serbia, which was flying on the building of payment operations service in Kosovska Mitrovica, on the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

The incident occurred in one of the main streets in Kosovska Mitrovica, and the burnt flag could be seen on the site early on Thursday.

Unidentified persons tried to remove the flag of the city of Kosovska Mitrovica, put up near the main bridge across the Ibar River, which separates the Serb-majority northern part of the city from the southern part populated by ethnic Albanians.

MITROVICA - EULEX Acting Head of Mission Joelle Vachter and Head of the EU Office in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar talked in northern Mitrovica on Tuesday with political representatives of north Kosovo Serbs about the security of citizens and the rule of law.

During the meeting, the officials discussed “issues of mutual concern regarding security of citizens and the rule of law in northern Kosovo”, EULEX has stated in a release.

"EULEX is part of the larger EU family in Kosovo and represents a key plank of the EU's overall comprehensive policy here,” Vachter said.

Mitrovica – Leaders of the Mitrovica municipality, Ksenija Bozovic and Goran Rakic visited today Detention Unit in Mitrovica and talked with prisoners and, as stated, some of whom are in detention for years without indictment.

As stated, the purpose was to visit Serbian prisoners in Detention Unit, as well as detained Serbs accused before the EULEX justice including the CI SDP leader Oliver Ivanovic.

Bozovic and Rakic ​​wanted to get acquainted with the conditions in which are Serbian prisoners.

Pristina, Mitrovica, Belgrade - Guarantees for detained Serbs from northern Kosovo, submitted by the Government of Serbia on February 10 to EULEX, all international bodies in Kosovo, as well as ambassadors of Quint countries in Belgrade, are valid during the whole procedure. We'll be seeking of EULEX, which is responsible for the respect of human rights and international standards, to accept guarantees during the procedure - the Office of the Government of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija told Danas.