Kosovo War

Kosovo and Serbia delegations again exchanged familiar accusations of not fulfilling the obligations they have undertaken at the latest round of the EU-facilitated dialogue on normalization of relations between the two countries.

The two delegations met on Tuesday in Brussels convened by the EU's envoy for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak.

On Monday, Kosovo's Pristina Basic Court sentenced a former Kosovo Serb policeman, Zoran Vukotic, to ten years in prison for rape and for participating in the expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians during the war in Kosovo in 1999.

The ruling was called historic because it the first time someone had been convicted in Kosovo of sexual abuse during the 1998-9 war.

On his Twitter account, Jevtic, along with the text of the child's testimony, asked the representatives of the international community in Kosovo and Metohija, primarily the European Union, KFOR, the US Embassy, but also the EU Special Representative for Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajcak, what else is needed to happen to the Serbs to provoke their reaction.

A senior official from the Serbian State Security Service, Franko 'Frenki' Simatovic, arrived at a covert paramilitary training camp near the town of Ilok in Croatia in the spring of 1992 - one of many that would allegedly be set up by Serbian security officials during the wars that erupted as Yugoslavia collapsed.

His trial, which might last for over a year, will set a precedent for the rest of the KLA cases, experts told BIRN.

'Joint criminal enterprise' claim causes outrage

Salih Mustafa in court in October 2020. Photo: Kosovo Special Chambers/Screenshot.

The remains of three victims of the Kosovo war, exhumed last year from mass graves, were reburied on Friday at a graveyard in the northern city of Mitrovica.

According to Montenegrin media, they claim that they bought the resort six decades ago, and demand that the Kotor court, which filed a lawsuit to determine property rights, issue a temporary measure banning the disposal of land and alienation of the country until the end of the court dispute, Vijesti reported.

"It took us a long time to get used to the life there. We stayed there because we had no other choice," she said.

She only managed to go back to Kosovo 18 years later.

"I wanted to return earlier, but we didn't have anything. I wish we could have built a house here. They [the Kosovo authorities], promised to build some houses for us, but changed their minds," she explained.

President Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference on Wednesday that a total of 21 suspected mass grave locations have been examined so far in Serbia and that "we found the bodies of, it's assumed, killed Albanians at four of the 21 locations - we did not hide anything".

According to "Novosti", they asked the locals about whether it would be good for the Kosovo police to secure the monastery instead of KFOR, related to the construction of the road around the monastery and other issues related to the Visoki Decani monastery.