11 August
The Commissioner
of Police and the Director of the Department of Justice announced the
arrest of a suspect on suspicion of murder, torture and illegal detention.The
arrest was requested by an international prosecutor and was carried
out by UNMIK Police with the assistance of KFOR. The arrested subject,
Rustem Mustafa, later appeared before an international judge. The investigation
is focused on evidence linking the suspect to the torture and murder
of at least five illegally detained persons. The prosecutor in the case
has requested that the suspect be detained pending the conclusion of
the investigation. At the end of the judicial investigation, which could
last several months, the international judge will decide whether an
indictment may be filed. If the judge determines that an indictment
should be filed, the case will then be tried before a panel of international
judges.
12 August
OSCE held a ballot lottery for political entities running in
the October municipal elections. There will be elections in all the
30 municipalities. A total of 68 entities have been registered to run
in the elections.
13 August
KFOR announced that over the past week it had detained a number
of individuals suspected of involvement in Ethnic Armed Extremist groups.
All those detained were considered to pose an immediate threat to the
safe and secure environment in the region. KFOR told the press that
it will not tolerate activities that disrupt the peace and stability
in Kosovo and would curtail criminal and extremist actions wherever
and whenever they are found.
The EU spokesman announced that KEK Unit A3 is down for planned
maintenance to prepare the unit for the winter months. The maintenance
process will be speeded up as much as possible but under the current
circumstances a load shedding schedule of three hours on, three hours
off will be applied for the forthcoming period.
14 August
OSCE announced that
voter services have been extended by one week until 23 August. This
gives displaced persons more time to choose to vote absentee, and gives
anyone not yet registered one last chance to get on the voters' list.
The extension of the Voter Services period applies to eligible voters
in Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro. Ambassador Pascal Fieschi, OSCE Head
of Mission, said this decision was taken "to have a Voters' List
for the Municipal Elections which is as accurate and as inclusive as
possible. This extension allows displaced persons one further week to
register as absentee voters for their previous municipality." The
extension was approved after review of the operation and in consultation
with the SRSG, Michael Steiner. The latest figures show that more than
37,000 people had visited Voter Service Centres to check or update their
details of the Voters' List.
18 August
PDSRSG Charles Brayshaw
visited the municipalities of Klina and Istok as well as two small communities
to which displaced Kosovo Serbs have been returning. Mr. Brayshaw used
the occasion to introduce Ms. Peggy Hicks, the new director of the UNMIK
Office of Returns and Communities. General Walter La Valle, commander
of MNB-West also participated in the delegation. With Klina municipal
assembly president Rame Manaj and later with community leaders in the
village of Shtuplj, Mr. Brayshaw discussed progress on the issue of
missing persons. Earlier last week, Mr. Manaj had met with UNMIK Missing
Persons Unit chief Jose-Pablo Baraybar in Pristina.
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