Kosovo Liberation Army

Abelard Tahiri, the head of Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK's parliamentary group, called on Thursday for the dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla because she said in 2016 that she was willing to provide evidence material to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

In December 2019, Gani was interviewed as a witness by prosecutors from The Hague. Gani is not his real name; BIRN is using a pseudonym to protect his identity. Many witnesses are fearful of potential retribution in Kosovo; this is one of the reasons that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which will try former KLA guerrillas for wartime crimes, was set up outside the country.

The prosecution at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague has asked the pre-trial judge to dismiss the defence's motions challenging the indictment of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas turned politicians, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.

Pjeter Shala, who was a Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighter during the 1998-99 conflict with Serbian forces, pleaded not guilty to war crimes at a pre-trial initial appearance at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Monday.

"I understood [the charges] and I find the accusations ridiculous," Shala told the judge.

Pjeter Shala, a former Kosovo Liberation Army fighter, was transferred to a detention centre in The Hague on Thursday evening after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers confirmed a four-count indictment charging him with war crimes.

Shala, 57, who was arrested in Belgium last month, is to make an initial appearance before a pre-trial judge on Monday.

This year was no different.

MEPs in the European Parliament adopted two separate reports on Thursday evening urging Serbia and Kosovo to be more efficient in investigating the remaining missing persons cases from the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

A joint statement issued by Kosovo's president and prime minister condemned any "involvement of citizens of Kosovo in the Macedonia incidents". The surviving gunmen were convicted of terrorism.

Russia has issued a warning against a repeat of the NATO Western military alliance's bombing campaign of Yugoslavia on its 22nd anniversary, as Washington's top diplomat seeks to rally the alliance for the first time under the banner of U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.

The Atlantic Association, an organisation representing Albanian-Americans who describe themselves as "proud former KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] soldiers", sent a letter to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday urging him to intervene to shift the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court to Kosovo itself.