Hashim Thaci

Kosovo's Special Prosecution has filed an indictment against former Minister for European Integration Dhurata Hoxha and four current and former officials of the ministry over a contract that saw budget money spent on a Paris-based PR company that promoted Kosovo's "territorial modification" as a way to solve the Kosovo- Serbia dispute two years ago.

BIRN has also reported how family members of former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci were hired as a copyright expert, a camera operator and in the marketing department.

Allegations of nepotism

Kosovo public broadcaster, RTK, board reporting to the parliamentary commission. Photo: BIRN

The Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers told BIRN that because of the continuing pandemic, it is restricting visits by relatives to former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla leaders who are awaiting trial at its detention centre.

Abelard Tahiri, the head of Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK's parliamentary group, called on Thursday for the dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla because she said in 2016 that she was willing to provide evidence material to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

The prosecution at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague has asked the pre-trial judge to dismiss the defence's motions challenging the indictment of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas turned politicians, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor rejected “naive and dangerous” ideas of redrawing borders in the Western Balkans as he addressed reporters on Friday in response to a non-paper floating the idea, arguing the EU’s accelerated enlargement to the region would best to silence such ideas.

After a meeting with LDK MPs, party leader Lumir Abdixhiku said that the party would take part in an upcoming vote in parliament on Kosovo's next president, with former assembly speaker Vjosa Osmani widely seen as the frontrunner.

The Atlantic Association, an organisation representing Albanian-Americans who describe themselves as "proud former KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] soldiers", sent a letter to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday urging him to intervene to shift the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court to Kosovo itself.

Six weeks after snap elections, parliament in Kosovo on Monday voted in Albin Kurti as Prime Minister for the second time within 13 months, after a long parliamentary debate.

Some 67 of the 120 MPs in the parliament supported Kurti's candidacy while 30 voted against. 

The Belgian authorities on Tuesday detained Pjeter Shala, a former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA member after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers called for his arrest on war crimes charges.

"Pjeter Shala will be detained in Belgium, pending any transfer to the detention facility of the KSC [Kosovo Specialist Chambers] in The Hague," said a statement issued by Specialist Chambers.