United Nations Mission in Kosovo

EULEX chief denies existence of "secret lists"

BELGRADE -- EULEX chief Bernd Borchardt says speculation that there are secret indictments against Serbs in Kosovo are "completely baseless."

The same is true when it comes to stories about a list containing 5,000 names of Serbs, he said, "categorically" stating that such a list do not exist.

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on Thursday that Serbia sees both Ukraine and Russia as friendly countries, and expressed hope that Ukraine's problems will get a political solution.

We regret the latest developments and I hope that a political solution will be found for these problems, Dacic told reporters.

BRUSSELS - The next round of the talks concerning the normalization of the relations between Belgrade and Pristina has not been scheduled yet and it is unknown when it will be held, Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson of the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, told reporters on Friday.

Atmosphere at Croatia-Swtzerland match and St Galen | Photo: Beta/AP

Serbia's Football Association, FSS, has written to FIFA, asked it to cancel a decision to allow Kosovo's national team to play friendly matches.

The FSS said the Serbian flag was set on fire before Kosovo's first such friendly, played in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, against Haiti.

BELGRADE - U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby conferred on Thursday in Raska, south-western Serbia, with the Mayor of Raska Jovan Corbic on the importance of free legal assistance to displaced persons, refugees, socially vulnerable groups and the local population.

UROSEVAC – A detention on remand for Laza Lazic, a Serb from Strpce, southern Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), who stands charged with “association against the constitutional order of Kosovo,” has been extended for two more months, his defense lawyer Dejan Vasic said Friday.

BELGRADE - One of the main topics of talks between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels, which should take place in mid-March, will be releasing from detention of Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Citizens’ Initiative ‘Freedom, Democracy, Justice’, and other Serbs who have got arrested in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Friday.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - The EULEX prosecutor wants the detention for leader of the Citizens' Initiative 'Freedom, Democracy, Justice' (GD SDP) Oliver Ivanovic to be extended and the decision on the potential detention extension has to be adopted by midnight on Thursday.

PRISTINA - EULEX Head Berndt Borchardt Judge denied allegations about existence of a list of 5,000 names of Serbs to be arrested in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), adding that a judge will decide if guarantees the Serbian government gave are sufficient to release four Serbs currently in detention in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM).

Serbia's Electoral Commisssion, RIK, told BIRN that early parliamentary elections due on March 16 will be organized also in the former province of Kosovo.

"There will be three members of the committee at each polling station in Kosovo and ballots will be taken for counting at voting centres in Vranje and Raska [in Serbia]," the RIK said.