Kosovo

On BIRN's televised programme Jeta ne Kosove on Thursday, Agriculture Minister Besian Mustafa expressed his dismay at the failure of the justice system in Kosovo to shed light on the murder of his father, Xhemajl, in 2000.

The Serbian government has appointed a French national, Arnaud Gouillon, head of the organisation Solidarité Kosovo - known for his far-right views and humanitarian activities among Kosovo's Serbian minority - to head its Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region.

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti on Thursday promised to respond to a letter from the EU Special Envoy to Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, criticising his government's decision not to allow Serbia's President, Aleksandar Vucic, to visit Kosovo.

Any request for a visit will be treated in the context of the country's current state of affairs, Hoti replied.

According to the proposal, up to 150 members of the Croatian Armed Forces and two helicopters of the Croatian Air Force should be sent to Kosovo and Metohija, HINA reported.
Currently, the 33rd Croatian contingent with 38 members of the CAF and two helicopters in the areas near Pristina, Ferizaj and at the Viladjio base not far from Peja is participating in KFOR operations.

A former chief judge for the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, Malcolm Simmons, has asked to tell the Kosovo Assembly about the alleged wrongdoings he said he witnessed in his time in office, the head of Kosovo Parliamentary Commission on Legislation, Shkemb Manaj, told BIRN on Wednesday.

Exhumation of human remains - thought to be Kosovo Albanian victims of the Kosovo independence war - found at Kizevak, in Raska, in southern Serbia - should start next week, when the whole terrain is prepared for work, officials say.

"The voices of the victims are indispensable to justice."

These were the words of the president of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Ekaterina Trendafilova, when she called on victims of crimes allegedly committed by four former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas who have since become senior politicians to participate in their war crimes case at the Hague-based court.

Igballe Rogova, a veteran human rights activist who is the director of the Kosovo Women's Network, staged a symbolic solo protest outside the government building in Pristina on Tuesday, accusing deputy prime minister Driton Selmanaj of showing disrespect to the people who went missing during the Kosovo war.

The Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor's Office on Monday urged the pre-trial judge in the case against Hashim Thaci and three other wartime Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas, all of whom are now senior politicians, that the start of the trial should not be subjected to delays until 2022 as the defence has requested.