Democratic Party of Kosovo

"Small number of people we had to arrest as we believe they facilitated the land being stolen. One of those people is Azem Syla," Alan Edwards, EULEX Chief of Organised Crime Investigation Unit told BIRN TV show Justice in Kosovo.

Azem Syla, a prominent legislator of the governing Democratic Party of Kosovo, charged on Wednesday in an investigation into an alleged land scam, surrendered to the EU law mission, EULEX, and to Kosovo police on Friday morning.

Syla's defence lawyer Tome Gashi confirmed on Friday that his client had handed himself in to the police.

A prominent legislator from the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, accused of running a major crime syndicate, has disregarded calls to immediately hand himself over.

MPs from Kosovo's three opposition parties, Vetevendosje [Self-Determination], The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and Nisma [Initiative for Kosovo] boycotted Tuesday's assembly session, allowing for the first session in months to be held in normal conditions, without being interrupted by tear gas.

Opposition politicians in Kosovo have repeated their demand for early elections, saying this alone will solve the country's acute political crisis.

Rexhep Selimi, an MP from the opposition Vetevendosje [Self-Determination] movement, said the government had lost its legitimity and even its legality.

Opposition MPs in Kosovo again let off tear gas in parliament on Wednesday during a meeting of the Steering Committee, which met to decide the date to elect a new president.

The speaker, Kadri Veseli announced that the vote would take place on Friday, with Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci as the main candidate for the post.

Kosovo's parliament on Thursday stopped work shortly after the three opposition parties blocked the speaker's pulpit in parliament making the work of the session impossible.

Former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Sami Lushtaku, convicted of war crimes, was sent to a high-security prison after he allegedly tried to escape, according to media reports.

The Kosovo parliament will vote on Monday on constitutional amendments that will allow the creation of the special court to try alleged crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army during the conflict in the country.

Deputies from Hashim Thaci's party will not vote for the forming a war crimes court that should deal with the KLA, write Albanian language media in Pristina.

This is the case "although Thaci promised German Chancellor Angela Merkel" that members of his party, the PDK, would vote in favor.