Hello and Welcome
to Week in Review for February 4, 2005 from the studios of UN Radio in Kosovo….
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Serbian General
Vladimir Lazarevic surrenders to the Hague
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KODI releases
report on Missing Persons
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Members of the
Contact Group met in Pristina this week
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And…Changes in
the Kosovo Judicial system were discussed this week
1 Topping this week’s news…
Representatives
from the six-country Contact Group met in Pristina on Wednesday. Discussions
centered on the need for more guarantees with human-rights standards and on the
newly drafted decentralization plan. The Pristina delegation, known as the
Contact Group Plus, praised the progress made on decentralization issues.
Particular attention was given to Kosovo’s provisional government and the need
to respect minority rights. Belgrade officials expressed concerns over the apparent
‘advisory role’ Contact Group members have given to Serbian in Kosovo’s
decentralization process. Belgrade wants more authority over the pilot-projects
in municipalities like Gracanica and Partes that will test the reforms of local
self-government. Contact Group members are not in favor of Belgrade’s direct
input.
Oliver Ivanovic,
representative of the Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija, attended the
meeting:
CUT 1
“We are satisfied
with the two pilot projects in the areas where Serbs are the majority – these
were our demands from the very beginning. But, I believe it best that we do
participate in the process.”
2 In regional news…
Serbian general Vladimir Lazarevic accused of war crimes in
Kosovo arrived yesterday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
Analysts say that his surrender was in part due to pressure applied
to Serbia by the European Union and the United States to extradite all alleged
war criminals or risk facing a loss of financial and political support.
Lazrevic who was the head of Pristina’s Yugoslav Army Corps during
the Kosovo conflict in 1998/1999, is accused by the ICTY for planning,
instigating, ordering or/and committing" crimes against Kosovo Albanians.
He and three other Serbian generals, who are still wanted by The
Hague, stand accused of forming a "joint criminal enterprise" with
former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
After US put substantial financial aid on hold, the European
Commission conditioned positive outcome of the feasibility study on the access
to EU with full cooperation with the ICTY, including the arrest of all indicted
persons.
The Government of Vojislav Kostunica that is under current
circumstances dependent of the support of Milosevic’s socialists in the
Parliament, has been delaying any possible arrests and was insisting on
voluntarily surrendings-.
3
Yesterday in
Pristina…
A conference on
the Reorganization of the Kosovo Justice System was held at the Grand Hotel.
Kosovo President, Ibrahim Rugova, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo
Supreme Court President, Rexhep Haxhimusa and PDSRSG Larry Rossin were all key
note speakers.
The panel of legal
experts, including US District Judge John Tunheim and Danish Judge from the
Council of Europe, Lis Sejr, praised the development in the justice sector
since 1999. But, PDSRSG Larry Rossin added that much still needs to be done to
insure that the justice system remains independent.
CUT 2 [HE SAID..]
“The rule of law
is at the top of the agenda in the Standards process for both internationals
and Kosovars. Nothing is more important to the rule of law in Kosovo than
establishing an independent, impartial and multi-ethnic judiciary.”
Changes in the
judicial system are expected to take between 3 to 5 years, this according to Danish
judge, Lis Sejr. The two-day conference ends today.
4
On Tuesday…
The Kosovar
Research and Documentation Institute or KODI, released its report on missing
persons. Called “The Right to Know,” the report was highly critical of the
international community and the governments in Belgrade and Pristina for not
treating missing person’s issues more urgently. The report called on the
international community to increase pressure on Belgrade in order to return the
remains from mass grave-sites in Serbia. Little time was spent dealing with missing
persons from Kosovo’s minority communities
5
And Finally…
A witness in the
trial of the so-called Dukagjini Group, was shot in Pec/Peja on Monday. The
victim, Sadik Musaj later died in hospital at Bondsteel, the U.S. base. Neeraj
Singh, Pillar 1 spokesperson, said that Musaj was not under any protective
measure directed by the court at the time of the shooting. The Dukagjini Group
was a five-man Kosovo Liberation Army unit headed by Daut Haradinaj, brother to
Kosovo Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj. The group was sentenced to a total of
31 years imprisonment for abduction, torture and murder of four members of a
rival Albanian guerilla unit – the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo or
FARK in June of 1999. Monday’s shooting is still under investigation
This concludes this edition of Week in Review. Stay tuned
to this channel every week at this time for UN Radio’s weekly wrap-up of news
in and around Kosovo.