Kosovo Police told BIRN they are unable to arrest Marko Rosic, who was sentenced to 10 years’ prison and a 10,000-euros fine over the murder of Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic, as his whereabouts are unknown. Kosovo Police has not been able to arrest Marko Rosic, around two weeks after the Prishtina Basic Court sentenced…
Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday ordered up to 30 days custody for a Kosovo Albanian man identified only by the initials F. K., who is suspected of committing war crimes in Kosovo in 1999. Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said F.K. is suspected of committing the crimes against Yugoslav Army troops who were being held…
Experts at BIRN’s annual Internet Freedom Meet, in Skopje, North Macedonia, warned that the Western Balkan countries do not have the proper legal framework to protect human rights from misuse of technological advancements. Human rights violations have become more likely and the manner of achieving those violations has become more varied as a result of…
Government says ban on use of popular social media platform in state institutions reflects security risks and follows the example set by many other countries. The Kosovo government on June 28 banned use of the social media network TikTok in state institutions amid growing global concerns over its potential vulnerability to cyber threats. Bardhyl Dobra,…
Prishtina Basic Court found Nedeljko Spasojevic, Marko Rosic, Zarko Jovanovic and Dragisa Markovic guilty of involvement in the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, who was gunned down outside his party’s office in January 2018. Prishtina Basic Court on Friday found four men guilty of involvement in the murder of the Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic, an opponent…
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic ordered the ‘Miredita, Dobar Dan!’ festival to be banned on security grounds, while journalists and some organisers trying to reach the festival from Kosovo were halted on the road by police. Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs on Thursday ordered the ‘Miredita, Dobar Dan!’ cultural exchange festival to be banned on…
Residents of Gorazdevac, a Serb majority village in the municipality of Peja/Pec, Kosovo, claim they are struggling to integrate into Kosovo society because of obstacles including language and infrastructure barriers. Kosovo Serbs from Gorazdevac, a village approximately seven kilometres from Peja/Pec municipality, requested at a public hearing also attended by BIRN and local media outlet…
The international community has expressed regret over Kosovo’s failure to incorporate recommendations into three crucial draft laws, on Public Officials, the Independent Media Commission, and the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, scheduled for a second reading in the Kosovo Assembly. The EU Office in Kosovo, in a press release on Wednesday, has expressed regret that three draft…
A new BIRN report highlights the shortcomings in legal structures and institutional responses in Kosovo when it comes to combating technology-facilitated and online gender-based violence. Kosovo’s lack of specific internet regulations has resulted in a legal vacuum which makes it difficult for authorities to effectively protect users from online abuses, a BIRN report published on Tuesday highlighted….
Informal Islamic Places of Worship, not supervised by Kosovo’s Islamic Community, have been opened in some neighbourhoods of Pristina, Gjilan, and Fushë Kosovë, BIRN found ten years after the Kosovo police had closed one such place in the capital, suspected of recruiting terrorists. Several informal Islamic places of worship have been established across Kosovo without…