"Rule of law in Kosovo is EULEX's interest"

"Rule of law in Kosovo is EULEX's interest"

ZVEČAN -- Head of EULEX Bernd Borchardt has said that the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, "is not a political, but a rule of law mission."

The official added that he can guarantee an impartial approach in EULEX's implementation of that rule of law, adding that EULEX has no interest in taking sides, Tanjug reported.

EULEX's interest is the rule of law and justice for victims, he told Most TV in Zvečan, adding that he was completely convinced that all the people of Kosovo, regardless of ethnicity, wanted a stable system based on the rule of law in which they would feel safe.

When asked about war crimes against Serbs and whether "the statute of limitations on them would expire," he responded that the cases involving war crimes and crimes against humanity were generally exempt from any time limits.

The cases of the blowing up of a Niš Express bus carrying Serb civilians, the murder of Serb children in Goraždevac and farmers in Staro Gracko are "all well known and one of them is being investigated, but EULEX needs information concerning the other two, which are also old cases," Borchardt stated and appealed on people who could provide that information to do so, since otherwise "no evidence would be found and the prosecutors would be powerless."

Commenting on the parliamentary poll in Kosovo due next Sunday, he said EULEX would work with the Kosovo police during the election, as before.

EULEX and KFOR are prepared to intervene should there be need and a request for their action from the police, he pointed out.