Kosovo Liberation Army

The war crimes trial of two Serbian officers has been repeatedly delayed because the defendants have not turned up and Kosovo lawyers representing the victims have been barred.

Kosovo assembly dissolved

PRIŠTINA -- A majority of Kosovo assembly members on Wednesday voted in favor of dissolving it, clearing the ground for snap parliamentary elections, Tanjug reported.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, said that "parliament was not functional, so it needed to be dissolved," RTK2 reported.

With 90 votes in favour, four against and three abstentions, members of the Kosovo Assembly dissolved parliament, paving the way for early elections expected in June.

By law, elections must be held between 30 and 45 days from the date of the dissolution of the Assembly.

Kosovo assembly to be dissolved on Wednesday - report

PRIŠTINA -- The assembly of Kosovo should be dissolved on Wednesday, and early parliamentary elections called for June 8.

This is according to RTV 21, which also reported that a session will be held tomorrow that will vote on this proposal.

BELGRADE - Establishment of a Kosovo army would increase the lack of security for Serbs and other non-Albanian communities because it would, in fact, be a successor of the terrorist "Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA), Milovan Drecun, the former chairman of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija, said on Tuesday.

Members of the Kosovo Central Election Commission, CEC, are concerned they will have only a limited time to prepare for early general elections if they are held next month.

“If June 8 is set as the date, the CEC will have only about 30 days, which will be quite challenging,” Florian Dushi, a CEC member, told BIRN.

June 8 proposed as date for elections in Kosovo

PRIŠTINA -- Hashim Thaci has said that he proposed "the holding of parliamentary elections on June 8," during the Wednesday meeting with leaders of other political parties.

The meeting took place at the U.S. embassy in Priština.

Controversy has erupted over a state fund that will be set up to support former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas on trial at a new internationally-backed war crimes tribunal.

"Court for KLA is not criticism of Hague's work"

THE HAGUE -- Serge Brammertz says a tribunal to deal with KLA crimes would not represent "criticism of the work of the Hague Tribunal concerning the Kosovo conflict."

BELGRADE / BRUSSELS - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that the Kosovo government’s approval of a special court to investigate 1998-1999 war crimes committed by members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army KLA, former ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization, in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), is a step forward for justice and the rule of law.