Kosovo

Tensions continued in the north following the closure by Kosovo authorities of financial institutions, post offices, and five "parallel institutions" tied to Belgrade, sparking protests among local Serbs and international criticism.

Twenty-five years after the war, the Kosovo Specialist Chamber in The Hague delivered two judgments and continued proceedings against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, and Kosovo courts continued to prosecute war crimes cases.

Journalists continued to face attacks, harassment, and threats, with a poor response from authorities.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in April recommended that Kosovo become a member.

Accountability for War Crimes

In February, the Pristina Basic Court convicted former Serbian police officer Dusko Arsić for his role in police and paramilitary ill-treatment, expulsions, and murders of Kosovo Albanian residents of Pristina in 1999. Arsić was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

The Pristina Basic Court in April, in a partial retrial in the “Drenica 1” case, acquitted Sylejman Selimi and Jahir Demaku of beating a prisoner at a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) detention center in the village of Likovac in 1998. Their other war crimes convictions still stand.

In July, the Pristina Basic Court sentenced Muhamet Alidemaj, a former Serbian police officer, to 15 years’ imprisonment for war crimes for participating in the massacre of 130 people at Izbice in March 1999.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague in July found former KLA member Pjeter Shala guilty of war crimes, including the murder of one prisoner and the arbitrary detention and torture of at least 18 detainees in the Kukes Metal Factory in Kukes, Albania, between May and June 1999. The court sentenced Shala to 18 years in prison.

In September, the The Court of Appeals Panel at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague reduced the sentence of KLA commander Salih Mustafa for a second time, to 15 years’ imprisonment. Mustafa was convicted in December 2022 by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers for war crimes between 1998 and 2000, including murder, torture, and arbitrary detention.

Accountability for Political Violence

The Pristina Basic Court in June convicted four Kosovo Serbs—Nedeljko Spasojevic, Marko Rosić, Zarko Jovanović and Dragisa Marković —for the 2018 murder of Oliver Ivanović, a Kosovo Serb opposition politician from North Mitrovica. Sentences ranged between four and 10 years. Police delay in conducting arrests after the sentencing allowed Rosić to evade justice.

Freedom of Media

Journalists continued to be subjected to physical attacks, threats, and obstructions in their work. Between January and September, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK) recorded 38 incidents against journalists, including two attacks, two attacks, five death threats and 14 cases of harassment, hate speech, or smear campaigns.

Staff of online investigative news outlet Insajderireceived death threats following a June story identifying a man arrested by Kosovo Police for alleged fraud and money laundering.

The Mitrovica Basic Court in September sentenced a man to four months in prison for threatening a crew from the Balkans Investigative Reporting Network reporting on a proposal to build a Catholic church in the village of Gornja Klina in February.

Women’s Rights

A commission established to grant status and access to monthly funding to survivors of war-time sexual violence made slow progress, with only 2,083 of an estimated 20,000 survivors having applied by June.

A June report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe monitoring domestic violence cases criticized court delays and failures to adhere to procedural deadlines as well as lenient sentencing, with 78 percent of defendants receiving at most a fine or suspended sentence. The report recommended training for all judicial system actors, including specialized training for judges, prosecutors, and attorneys.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Duda Balje, member of the Kosovo parliament and chair of the parliamentary Human Rights Commission, made discriminatory comments about LGBT people during a parliamentary meeting in February. Local LGBT and human rights organizations called for her dismissal as chair. In May, the government announced plans to legalize same-sex civil unions. The legislation had yet to be introduced at time of writing.

Asylum Seekers and Displaced Persons

Between January and August, the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs registered 358 forced returns to Kosovo, the majority from Germany. Sixty-one were children. Of all forcibly returned, nine were Roma, one Bosniak, and the rest ethnic Albanian. During the same reporting period, the ministry registered 33 voluntary returns to Kosovo, and 144 asylum applications, the majority of the latter individuals from Syria.

Accountability of International Institutions

There was no progress in providing reparations or apologies to Kosovo Roma resettled by the UN to now-closed lead contaminated camps after the 1999 war. A flawed UN mechanism to provide compensation has yet to begin operations.