Kadri Veseli

Defence lawyers of recently-resigned Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former guerrilla fighters turned politicians accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity argued at a status conference at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Thursday that the prosecution is trying to restrict the defence's ability to prepare for the trial.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers published on Monday a redacted decision by a pre-trial judge confirming an indictment against former President Hashim Thaci and three former fellow guerrilla commanders accusing them of crimes against humanity and war crimes during and after the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

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 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.

Among those called in for interviews have been prominent political figures like Ramush Haradinaj, head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK party, who resigned as prime minister when he was summoned, and the former speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Kadri Veseli, who is head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK.

After the heads of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Isa Mustafa, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, on Wednesday agreed to work on creating a new coalition government, President Thaci said he would give a mandate to form a government to whatever coalition was able to assemble a majority.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci held consultative meetings with political leaders on Wednesday as he pushes for the formation of a unity government following the March 25 no-confidence vote in the government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

In this endeavour, Thaci is believed to have secured support US President Donald Trump's envoy for Serbia-Kosovo peace negotiations, Richard Grenell. A man of many titles - he is also the acting Director of National Intelligence and the US ambassador to Germany - Grenell has denied that the partition of Kosovo has been discussed in secret as part of the rumoured peace deal.

The presidency of the Kosovo parliament will meet on Tuesday to consider the no-confidence motion against the government of Albin Kurti initiated by the junior partner in his coalition government, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK - which looks increasingly likely to pass.

If Washington's threats of denying economic aid and withdrawing US troops from Kosovo and Metohija do not discipline the prime minister of interim Pristina institutions, Albin Kurti, and in case he does not suspend tariffs, it is not excluded that the United States will pull another trump card - a change of government in Pristina.