Hashim Thaçi

For two decades, voters in the town of Skenderaj/Srbica in Kosovo's Drenica Valley have been pledging their support to the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK and its former leader Hashim Thaci, the wartime political chief of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA who went on to dominate politics in the country in the years after the conflict.

Shehu is one of scores of Albanian army officers who joined the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA in its war against the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police and paramilitaries in 1999.

The Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans' Organisation branch in the town of Has said on Tuesday evening that former guerrilla Nezir Cocaj, who is running for re-election as an MP next month, has been called for questioning by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague.

Former Kosovo police officer Fadil Syleviqi, 55, was found dead on Friday afternoon on a forest road leading from Pristina to Badovci Lake, police said.

Police said they were informed shortly after 2pm local time that a person with no signs of life was lying on the ground by the road.

Three years ago, on January 16, when unknown perpetrators fired six bullets into the body of Kosovo Serb opposition party leader Oliver Ivanovic in front of his office in the town of Mitrovica, people in Serbia and Kosovo were stunned, while Western diplomats feared that the murder of another politician in the Balkans could end the fragile dialogue to normalise relations between Belgrade and Pr

Human and minority rights, the rule of law and media freedom remain endangered in several Southeast and Central European countries in 2020, especially in the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, Human Rights Watch, HRW, said in its latest report published on Wednesday.

The report looks at over 60 countries, among them Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Hungary and Poland.

Nasim Haradinaj in court at a previous hearing. Photo: Kosovo Specialist Chambers/Screenshot.

The plea was entered in accordance with court's regulations after Haradinaj did not appear in court.

Haradinaj's lawyer told the court that his client did not want to take part in the hearing "as a protest about the way he has been treated".

A poster in Pristina in July 2020 describing Thaci and Veseli as heroes. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ.

"By taking these actions, Thaci and Veseli have put their personal interests ahead of the victims of their crimes, the rule of law, and all people of Kosovo," the prosecution said in a statement.

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, in coordination with acting Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, on Thursday dismissed the chief of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, KIA, Kreshnik Gashi, allegedly for trying to obtain confidential documents from the President's office.