Nisma party

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and his three co-defendants went on trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Monday morning, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed between at least March 1998 and September 1999 in Kosovo and neighbouring Albania during and just after the war with Serbian forces.

Sejdi Zymeri's house in the village of Likovc/Likovac is close to where the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA used to have its headquarters in the Drenica region, the guerrillas' wartime heartland.

On trial alongside Thaci will be Kadri Veseli, a former Kosovo parliamentary speaker and leader of Kosovo Democratic Party, PDK, Jakup Krasniqi, the chairman of the national council of the Social Democratic Initiative, NISMA party, and Rexhep Selimi, who was the head of the Vetevendosje party's parliamentary group of MPs at the time of his arrest.

The prosecution's presentation of evidence in the case against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former senior Kosovo Liberation Army, KA guerrillas at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague could go on for six-and-a-half years, presiding judge Charles Smith III told a case status conference at the court on Monday.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague has published a less redacted version of the indictment of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who goes on trial with three other Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA ex-officers next month, giving more details of the war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against them.

Talks on forming a new government in Kosovo are due to start soon after the opposition Vetevendosje party came first in Sunday's snap parliamentary elections.

The party has made clear it wishes to seek to form a coalition government with another former opposition party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK.

Kosovo's government has postponed sending the controversial agreement on border demarcation with Montenegro to parliament for a vote until Wednesday.

Prime Minister Isa Mustafa delayed the vote after a meeting with the speaker of parliament, Kadri Veseli, and the US ambassador Greg Delawie.