Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011 Issue No. 76 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1

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Kosovo’s Smugglers Mourn Endof Golden Age

A hundred euros a day. That’s how muchFaton, an Albanian, and Igor, a Serb, -long-time partners in crime from the dividedtown of Mitrovica - earn from joint smug-gling operations.

In this impoverished community, splitbetween two warring communities, 50euros each a day...

NEWS

Opinion: Facebook’s Secret Database of You

FEATURE

page 6business

Pan-Albanian Highway Fails toDeliver the Goods

The opening of Albania’s first highwayin June 2009 from the port of Durres to theKosovo border has failed significantly tostimulate business between the two coun-tries, analysis by Prishtina Insight sug-gests.

After spending 1 billion euro on theAlbanian half of... page 6business

INSIDE PRISHTINA

21 NATO SoldiersHurt in Kosovo SerbViolence

> page 2

The construction of theIbrahim Rugova Square inthe heart of Prishtina for 4.3

million euro is arguably Kosovo’smost important public space proj-ect.

The square is intended to pro-vide Kosovo’s capital with a centralfocal point for the first time. Ringedby the government building, parlia-ment, the former Union Hotel andthe statue of the Albanian warriorhero Skenderbeg, it will feature astatue of Kosovo’s first president as

well as a fountain. But Prishtina Insight has dis-

covered that the city has handedthe high-profile project to AllZone, a firm with a history of mas-sively overcharging the municipal-ity, the contracting authority.

All Zone, which will build thesquare alongside another company,ABC, sold a fire engine to Prishtinamunicipality at 30 times its costprice, an investigation by PrishtinaInsight revealed last year.

While the municipality paidclose to 300,000 euro for the vehi-cle, documents showed it had beenbought in Germany for just 11,000.

The investigation also showedthat All Zone bought two trucksand assembled them inside Kosovointo one fire engine, which wasdeemed unsafe by firefighters..

On the day it was delivered tothe brigade in September 2010 theengine began to leak oil and somefirefighters refuse to use it to thisday.

“Even today there is troublewith this truck; many of us fear touse it,” a firefighter, who asked toremain anonymous, said recently.

Our investigation showed thatall four companies bidding for thefire engine contract – All Zone, Pro

Trade, Fast NP and Ideal Solutions– were closely linked, with com-mon owners, officials, phone num-bers and addresses.

This suggested collusionbetween the companies in order toartificially increase the price.

Documents obtained by BIRNlisted Gazmend Kelmendi as chiefexecutive of All Zone but otherdocuments related to All Zonewere signed by another man,Valon Zymberi, who is now listedas the official owner at Kosovo’sbusiness registration office.

continues page 2

By Petrit Collaku

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Prishtina Hands LandmarkSquare to “Rip-off” FirmThe Kosovo capital has awarded construction of the city’s main square to a firm which grossly overcharged PrishtinaMunicipality for a fire engine, deemed too unsafe to operate by most firefighters.

Kosovars Seek Curesin Old Foe Serbia

Kosovo Political“Killer” Freed

NEWS

> page 9

> page 15

Swiss Luxury Arrivesin Prishtina

> page 19

EULEX’s WitnessProtection “Poorly Staffed”

EULEX’s witness protectionprogramme is to be beefed upbecause its failure to recruitgood candidates has hamperedinvestigations and prosecu-tions, and could derail theprobe into organ trafficking.

Britain’s Europe Minister,David Lidington, made the rev-elation in a submission to theBritish parliament.

It follows concerns over thedeath of Witness X, AgimZogiana, a key witness in a warcrimes trial involving FatmirLimaj.

He was found hanged lastmonth in a park in Germany.His family say he was underEULEX’s witness protectionscheme...

See Page 3

Serbia Election FightTurns Nasty

FEATURE

> page 12

Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

YMCK

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+381 38 602042, +377 44 243367, +386 49 243367

from page 1

However, Kelmendi also signedthe bid for Fast NP, while Zymberisigned also on behalf of ProTrade. Fitim Jetullahu signed thebid for Ideal Solutions.

All four firms were registered atKosovo’s Business RegistrationAgency on the same day, January27, 2009, and three of the compa-nies appear to have almost identi-cal addresses in the Dardanianeighbourhood of the city

The landline phone number list-ed for All Zone on a letter to sent toPrishtina municipality is the sameas one listed for Ideal Solutions ina contract award for another ten-der.

A report of the Office of theAuditor General last year saidauditors were unable to ascertainhow the evaluating committee hadarrived at the figure of 300,000euro for the fire engine. “The pricepaid is 27 times higher than cus-toms estimated [its value],” theauditors’ report said.

“We were not able to find anyexplanation as to how the evalua-tion committee arrived at thisamount [300,000 euro] in referenceto the awarded contract,” it con-cluded.

Following Prishtina Insight’srevelations, prosecutors launchedan investigation into whetherfraud had occurred. The case wasdropped in April owing to lack ofevidence.

Prishtina Municipality hassince signed a new deal with Pro

Trade, owned by Zymberi’s wife,Syzana, to supply it with two morefire engines at a cost of 420,000euro.

Muharrem Bejta, head of firebrigade trade union in Prishtina,said he said he would refuse toaccept the two new trucks, whichhave yet to be delivered, if they arein a similar condition to the first.

“As a member of the evaluatingcommittee for the acceptance ofthe two new trucks, I’ve told themthat if those trucks are brought byValon [Zymberi] and look like theprevious one, I will not sign theacceptance document,” he said.

Valon Zymberi, from All Zone,told Prishtina Insight that hiscompany had experience in con-struction “inside and outside ofKosovo” but declined to name anyparticular projects.

He added that the tender for thenew square had been carried outin public and that his companyhad succeeded in part because ithad pledged to use material com-ing from Western Europe with a10-year guarantee.

“Only the gravel and concretewill come from this country, whileeverything else will come fromEuropean [Union] companies,”Zymberi maintained.

ABC, All Zone’s partners fromPodujevo, has won a string of ten-ders with Prishtina Municipalityfor road construction but has notbeen involved in public space proj-ects.

Turn to page 18 for more detailson the square design.

Prishtina HandsLandmark Squareto “Rip-off” Firm

Former Kosovo LiberationArmy, KLA, fighter FahredinGashi was sentenced on

Wednesday to 18 years' prison forwar crimes committed againstcivilians during the Kosovo con-flict in 1999.

The Prishtina District Courtalso found Hysni Rama guilty ofhelping Gashi to elude police andwas given a six-month suspendedprison sentence.

Presiding judge Horst Proetel ofGermany said the court estab-lished that Gashi had been respon-sible for the murder of SalihGashi, a veteran activist of theDemocratic League of Kosovo,LDK.

The victim was shot dead at hishouse in Varrigovc, a village in themunicipality of Lipjan, in front ofhis family, including children.

“On June 15, 1999, FahredinGashi and Nazim Bllaca, dressedall in black, and wearing masks,entered the house of Salih Gashi.

“At home, the victim was togeth-er with his wife... and children.They spoke shortly with SalihGashi and shot him dead,” JudgeProetel said.

This crime was reported to theEU law-and-order mission,EULEX, back in 2009, by NazimBllaca. He since admitted in pub-lic that he and Gashi were respon-

sible for the killing.In 2009 Kosovo was shaken by

the revelations of the alleged for-mer Kosovo Secret Service, SHIK,agent who also admitted havingmurdered an Albanian who hadcollaborated with the Serbianregime back in 1999.

Bllaca also claimed that targetsof his execution squad includedofficials of the LDK, the mainrival to the ruling PDK party.

At the trial, Bllaca, as the keywitness, said SHIK had offeredhim 1 million euro not to stand asa witness although, he claimed, hewould not have accepted suchadeal “even if they offered me 600million euro”.

The trial started in March.Judge Proetel said that

although Bllaca clearly had acriminal character, the court hadruled that “all his statements,were relevant, coherent and based

on reality.“Bllaca up till now has proven

himself. The most powerful argu-ment is that he denounced himselfas a murderer and expressed hisreadiness to stand responsible forhis acts,” the EU judge said.

During the deliberation of theverdict, the court noted that thearmed conflict in Kosovo ended onJune 9, 1999, following the entryinto force of the KumanovoAgreement, concluded betweenNATO and the Serbian Army.

But, the judge noted that inter-nal conflicts in Kosovo continuedafter that date.

Fahredin Gashi’s defencelawyer, Tahir Rrecaj, announcedthat he will appeal the verdict,which was “totally inacceptable.

"We are not satisfied at all withit,” he said.

Bllaca remains under housearrest awaiting trial.

Kosovo Jails Former KLAFighter For 18 YearsPrishtina court finds Fahredin Gashi guilty of war crimes following testimony of self-styled former Kosovo secret service agent and hitman, Nazim Bllaca.

It is not clear how many KosovoSerbs were injured, but localmedia reported that many had

been admitted in the hospital withinjuries.

A KFOR spokesperson, FrankMartin, told Prishtina Insight thatviolence erupted shortly after mid-night on Wednesday when angrySerbs massed to stop peacekeepersfrom removing a roadblock on the

road from Mitrovica to the Serbianborder at Jarinje.

KFOR began the operation short-ly after 11pm, seizing the barricade,but at midnight more Serb protest-ers gathered, supported by trucks.

“The demonstrators used force,including the throwing of stones,and pushed back KFOR troops byattacking them with trucks loadedwith gravel.

"KFOR troops were forced to firewarning shots into the air in addi-tion to which KFOR also used tear-gas and batons for self-protectionagainst the protesters”, Martin toldBalkan Insight.

To prevent further escalation ofthe dispute, KFOR halted the mili-tary operation and abandoned thebarricade to the protesters.

The KFOR spokesperson saidthat this decision was taken “not torisk serious casualties on bothsides, therefore KFOR took theresponsible decision to stop theoperation.

"KFOR can confirm that 21 sol-diers suffered injuries,” he added.

Serbs have been manning barri-cades in North Kosovo for months,protesting against the deploymentof Kosovo government officials onborder crossings with Serbia.

21 NATO Soldiers Hurtin Kosovo Serb ViolenceSerbs in volatile North Kosovo attacked NATO peacekeepers in KFOR, injuring 21, afterthey moved to dismantle a Serb barricade.

By Fatmir Aliu,Mitrovica

By Fatmir Aliu

EULEX’s witness protectionprogramme is to be beefedup because its failure to

recruit good candidates has ham-pered investigations and prosecu-tions, and could derail the probeinto organ trafficking.

Britain’s Europe Minister,David Lidington, made the revela-tion in a submission to theBritish parliament.

It follows concerns over thedeath of Witness X, AgimZogiana, a key witness in a warcrimes trial involving FatmirLimaj.

He was found hanged lastmonth in a park in Germany. Hisfamily say he was under EULEX’switness protection scheme,although the mission has refusedto admit this.

Dick Marty, the Swiss Senator,has also questioned EULEX’sability to protect witnesses andrefused to release his evidence tothe mission of alleged organ traf-ficking unless improvements aremade.

EULEX has repeatedly defend-ing its witness protection schemewhich it described in March as“high-quality”.

But, it seems, that Brusselsbelieves that extra money isrequired to improve the pro-gramme.

“The witness support unit andjustice component suffer from a

shortage of suitable secondedcandidates,” said Lidington.“This hampers EULEX's abilityto proceed with investigationsand prosecutions and couldimpact on its investigations intoallegations in Senator DickMarty's Council of Europe reporton organ trafficking.”

The details emerged as theEuropean Union yesterdayapproved EULEX’s budget for thesix months to June 2012.

The mission has seen a 10 percent reduction in its funds, butmoney has been reallocated toimprove witness protection andpay for the new unit dedicated tothe Marty investigation.

600,000 euro for “MartyForce”

According to Lidington,EULEX will now be able toemploy individuals directly forits 60-strong witness protectionteam, rather than rely on second-ed employees sent by memberstates. Adverts for 50 candidateshave already been placed onlineon EULEX’s website.

This will lead to an increase of1.7million euro for the proposed 6month budget.

A further 600,000 euro has beenset aside for the SpecialInvestigative Task Force, whichwill look into the claims made byMarty in his controversial report.

The unit will comprise 18 staffand be based in Brussels, it hasalso emerged.

“The Special InvestigationTask Force was set up to investi-

gate allegations of organ traffick-ing in the Marty report,” saidLidington.

“Senator Marty has made hiscooperation with EULEX condi-tional upon EULEX's ability toprotect potential witnesses whoseaccounts formed the basis of hisreport.

“The current budget includes aprovision of 0.6m for staffing andtravel for the Task Force."

EULEX “will restore”Customs in Kosovo North

EULEX is expected to concen-trate on tackling Kosovo’s trou-bled north in the next sixmonths.

Lidington said: “The missionis important to tackling organ-ised crime and corruption —areas again highlighted in theCommission's 2011 ProgressReport as needing seriousreform.

“During the next six monthperiod, we will be pushing hardfor EULEX to increase its pres-ence and activity in northernKosovo.

“It is the one institution thatremains best placed to addressthe levels of crime there.

“EULEX activity will alsoinclude full restoration of

Kosovo customs control in north-ern Kosovo and the investigationinto Dick Marty's allegations oforganised crime, includingorgan trafficking.”

But, Lidington said, EULEXwill also be asked to begin prepa-ration to pass power back toKosovo’s government.

A strategic review is expectedto report back in spring 2012 andEULEX’s future, with a new man-date likely to be approved in sum-mer.

EULEX Investigates Itselfover Fraud

A major capital project hasbeen delayed at EULEX as irregu-larities in a tender process wereinvestigated.

EULEX refused to tellPrishtina Insight whether theproject had now been approved orwhether irregularities had beenruled out.

According to evidence submit-ted to the UK’s Common Securityand Defence PolicyParliamentary Committee, theEuropean Commission had toldBritain’s Europe Minister, DavidLidington, that “one major capi-tal project had been delayed whileirregularities with the tenderwere investigated."

Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011news 3

Editor’s Word

EdheNjë

Ibought a car recently. .I did have my doubts about itwhen I saw it was leaking oil on

the day I picked up the keys, but still,the nice man reassured me, and Iparted with the cash: 300,000 euro tobe exact. The car dealer told me itwas a bargain - and I had shoppedaround. Another three sellers hadgiven me higher offers, so I was pret-ty confident the price was right.

Unfortunately, it later transpiredthat I’d paid 30 times more than thedealer had, and that, in fact, he put ittogether from two old cars. It’s sodangerous I hardly ever take it out tobe honest.

Things got worse when I thenfound out that the three other offers Ireceived were actually from compa-nies all connected to the same guy.

Still, I’m sure they wouldn’t havetold each other the prices they weregoing to offer me, even if they werebased at the same office, and had thesame members of staff.

But that’s all in the past now. Asthe old engine wasn’t working sowell, I went back to the same dealer,who promised me another reallygood deal. I’ve bought another twocars from him which have set meback another 420,000 euro. Hopefullyat least one of those will work.

Oh, and did I mention that I’m alsogetting this guy to build me a house?He has never done anything like thatbefore, but he says that he is “verygood” so I’m keeping my fingerscrossed. I’m paying him 4.3 millioneuro for that.

If you are beginning to worry thatI’m being taken for a ride, then spareme the sympathy - so are you.

In fact, it is Prishtina Municipalitywhich has paid millions of taxpay-ers’ money, first, for one “dodgy” fireengine, then another two this year,and now a new Ibrahim RugovaSquare, all from the same firm.

Prishtina Municipality is like adrunk at the bar shouting “edhe nje”,even though it knows that it’s goingto hurt so much more in the coldlight of day.

The prosecution has deemed thatthere is “insufficient evidence” toprosecute in the first “dodgy” case,despite pretty damning evidence col-lected by this newspaper. Maybe thathangover will never come.

I choose to think differently, and inmy own way will be shouting “edhjenje” as we reprise this troublingaffair on the front page of a futureedition.

I’d like to get my money back, andso should you.

By Lawrence Marzouk

PRISTINA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT “ADEM JASHARI”

EULEX’s WitnessProtection “Poorly Staffed”

By Lawrence Marzouk

WE ARE OPEN FOR ALL DEPARTING FLIGHTS • CALL US ON 038 594422

Johannes Van Vreeswijk, chiefprosecutor at EULEX untilsummer 2010, says he has

been disappointed by progress intackling high level crime.

“I am a bit disappointed… myexpectations were that it [prose-cutions] could have been done

faster. This is simply not as easyas I thought it would be… thepace of everything was slowerthan I would have liked to see,”he says.

Van Vreeswijk concedes therewere “never enough translators”but says that while there has

been a high turnover of investi-gators “they know what has beendone by their predecessors inorder to resume the work”.

To read more on this visithttp://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/the-rule-of-law-in-koso-vo-mission-impossible.

Former Top Prosecutor“Disappointed” With Progress

EULEX has had its budget slashed by 10 per cent.

Johannes Van Vreeswijk

news4 Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

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“If the bones of my son were tobe found, then at least I wouldhave a place to mourn him,”

says 58-year-old Nesrete Kumnova,whose 21-year-old son Albion wasabducted by Serb forces from themajority ethnic Albanian town ofGjakova during the Kosovo war.

Until she knows for sure whathappened to her son - howeverpainful the truth may be,Kumnova cannot even contem-plate living peacefully withSerbs, let alone forgiving.

“Co-existence? No way.Reconciliation is not possibleunless our wounds are healed. Icannot even tolerate seeingSerbian officials in the Kosovogovernment or hearing theSerbian language. It is immoraland unethical before the fate ofour sons is clear,” she declares.

Kumnova is convinced Serbforces killed her son after he wasrounded up on 31 March 1999,along with most of the adult maleethnic Albanians in Gjakova, atown 80 km west of the capitalPrishtina.

Her son is just one of the 1,904Kosovars of all ethnicities listedby the International Committeeof the Red Cross as still missing.She is far from alone in beingunable to either forgive or cometo terms with her loss.

At least 750,000 KosovoAlbanians were forced to leaveKosovo in the period between theend of March and beginning of

June 1999, according to theInternational Criminal Tribunalfor the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)in The Hague, when the Serb mil-itary began its Potkovica (HorseShoe) offensive.

By the end of the NATO cam-paign in July 1999, the ICTY esti-mates up to 13,500 Kosovars died –including as many as 10,356 eth-nic Albanians.

While the scale of violence vis-ited on the ethnic Albanian popu-lation far exceeded that experi-enced by others, all ethnic groups– including Serbs, Albanians whowere considered loyal to Serbia,Roma and Egyptians – sufferedduring and after the conflict.Many still do not know what hap-pened to their missing loved ones.

Yet the challenge of achievinglasting peace and reconciliationafter a brutal war is not unique toKosovo.

The Balkan wars started inCroatia in 1991 and the conflictspilled over into Bosnia in 1992.There were human rights abuseson all sides, but Serbian securityforces and Serbian irregularstook the lead in horrific mas-sacres, ethnic cleansing, torture,rapes and the use of concentra-tion camps.

The death toll in Bosnia andHerzegovina (BiH) alone was100,000, according to the Researchand Documentation Center inSarajevo. Of those, 65 per centwere Bosniaks (BosnianMuslims), 25 per cent ethnicSerbs and eight per cent ethnicCroats.

In traumatised societies emerg-ing from war, many regard con-victed war criminals as nationalheroes - defenders rather thanperpetrators of war crimes.

Unlike in Germany, govern-ments in the Balkans are yet tosponsor high-profile programmesand campaigns to educate citi-zens about the past. The Germanstate continues to prosecute sus-pected war criminals, compen-sate victims and maintain docu-mentation centres more than 60years after the end of World WarII.

Burying, not Facing the Past

Serbia is seen by its neighboursBiH, Croatia and Kosovo as theperpetrator of the worst warcrimes committed on their terri-tories. According to theHumanitarian Law Center inBelgrade, Serbia has handed over47 suspects to be prosecuted bythe ICTY, and processed 383 peo-ple in local courts, of whom 143were indicted and 68 sentenced.Still, few Serbs understand thescale of the crimes committed intheir name under the rule ofSlobodan Milosevic.

Serbia dragged its heels whenit came to handing over key warcrimes suspects, includingRadovan Karadzic and RatkoMladic. Both remained in hiding,Mladi c for 15 years, despite beingnamed by the ICTY as the key per-

petrator of the 1995 massacre ofaround 8,000 Muslim men andboys at Srebrenica in easternBosnia.

He was finally handed over tothe ICTY in May this year, once itbecame clear that Serbia’s bid tojoin the EU was dependent onsurrendering nationals wanted inconnection with war crimes.

Dejan Anastasijevic is aSerbian journalist who has spentmany years investigating the warcrimes of ‘90s.

In his BIRN blog, he writes:“The majority of Serbs are notconvinced that Mladic is guilty ofany war crimes, but still don’tmind his arrest so long as it leadsto membership of the EU, whichthey see as promised land wheremoney grows on trees.

“This is a perfect illustration ofSerbia’s struggle to bury its pastwithout actually facing it. Evenwhen faced with irrefutable evi-dence, people tend to shrug, say‘bad things happen in wartime’and then change the subject.”

Tanja Matic, a journalist cover-ing war crimes trials at the ICTYfor the SENSE news agency ishighly critical of Serbia’s leader-ship.

“For Serbia to face the past, itspoliticians must clearly condemnthe country’s own war crimes,not make statements which putthe war crimes of everybody onthe same level, thus justifying thecrimes,” she says.

Defenders, NotPerpetrators

While most Albanians inKosovo are aware that Serbia hasfailed to prosecute many warcriminals suspected of commit-ting atrocities against the ethnicAlbanian population, most Serbsin Kosovo believe that Kosovo’sAlbanian-majority governmenthas failed to prosecute or punishethnic Albanians responsible forcommitting war crimes duringand after the 1999 NATO airstrikes that led to the eventualwithdrawal of Serb forces fromKosovo.

Some Albanian refugees whoreturned home blamed the Serbpopulation for the actions ofSlobodan Milosevic’s forces. As aresult, Serbs were directlyattacked, forcibly driven fromtheir homes or abandoned theirhouses in fear of revenge attacks.

Nebojsa Peric, 40, lives in theSerb-majority town of Gracanica,10 km from the capital Prishtina.He is determined to stay inKosovo, despite his ongoing sus-picion that local Albanians mightbe responsible for the abductionand murder of his father in late1999.

While Nebojsa wants his twochildren, aged five and three, togrow up in Kosovo he says recon-ciliation will only be possibleonce the truth is finally estab-lished.

“I want my children to have afuture here, but I also want thetruth for my father. I think all

Serbs living here want the samething,” he says.

“I personally know that manySerbs were killed especially afterthe war in Kosovo… [what] weneed is an international investi-gation because Serbs here cannotbelieve an Albanian investigationwould report on these issues,”says Jelena, a 33-year-old ethnicSerb housewife living inGracanica.

The Kosovan government setup the Institute of War Crimes inJune this year, charged withimpartially investigating anddocumenting atrocities commit-ted during the war.

However, with such high levelsof distrust and animosity on allsides, it will be a very long timebefore any organisation will gainthe trust of all ethnic groups.

International prosecutors andjudges have handled most warcrimes trials in Kosovo – 58 casesto date, according to theHumanitarian Law Centre. Yetthe trials have not helped ethnicAlbanians to accept that theirown people carried out any vio-lent attacks on Serbs at all,despite findings of ICTY investi-gations and prosecutions.

“It’s all invented, no Albaniancould have done something likethat. Serbs killed and tortured usand now we (Kosovo Albanians)are accused of abducting, tortur-ing and killing Serbs. I cannotbelieve these lies,” says Armend,a 30-year-old Prishtina taxi driv-er.

Jehona, a 35-year-old Albanianoffice worker, says: “We should becareful to distinguish those indi-vidual crimes that were commit-ted for revenge from those organ-ised crimes against a communityor population.”

Aside from setting up theInstitute of War Crimes, the gov-ernment has largely left truthand reconciliation to the effortsof a handful of NGOs and cam-paign groups, like theHumanitarian Law Fund inKosovo.

Bekim Blakaj, head of theHumanitarian Law Fund inKosovo, has set up the Book ofMemory; a central register of alldead and missing Kosovars.Relatives and friends can addinformation and find detailsabout where their loved oneswere last seen.

He says that it remains “tabooto speak about the victims ofother communities” in Kosovoand it will stay that way until warcrimes suspects on all sides areprosecuted and held to accountfor their actions.

Matti Raatikainen is chiefinvestigator of the war crimesunit at EULEX, the EuropeanUnion’s rule of law mission inKosovo.

While stressing there are cur-rently 70 active cases, he says wit-nesses are reluctant to come for-ward and that many ethnicAlbanians are against the prose-cution of well-known KosovoLiberation Army, KLA, fighters

whom they regard as freedomfighters and national heroes.

After years of oppressionthroughout the 90s, ethnicAlbanians began to demandgreater freedom from Belgradeand the KLA was born. By 1997,the KLA began to attack Serbpolice and military targets whichin turn led to a brutal crackdownby Milosevic’s forces.

“We have had difficulties incases where KLA fighters areinvolved, we have found evidencebut it's difficult to convince wit-nesses to take the stand openly.At the same time, there arealways protests when we presscharges against ex-members ofthe KLA,” Raatikainen explains.

Attitudes Change Slowly inCroatia

In Croatia, many object to theirfighters being prosecuted for warcrimes, as they regard them-selves as victims of Serb aggres-sion who were forced to fightback in order to defend theircountry’s borders.

This year there was public out-rage and a sharp decline in sup-port for the ICTY after it handeddown a 24-year jail term toCroatian General Ante Gotovina.

Gotovina led the Croatianforces during the military offen-sive – Operation Storm - to takecontrol of the Serb-controlledKrajina region in 1995, duringwhich at least 150 Serbs werekilled according to the ICTY.Around 200,000 Serbs fled toneighbouring Serbia and mostnever returned.

Given this offensive securedCroatia’s independence and iscredited with ending four years ofbloody combat, Gotovina is wide-ly regarded as a national hero.

The events of 1991 remain freshin the memories of Croats. It wasat this time when Croatian Serbs- with the help of the Serb-major-ity Yugoslav army and Belgrade -declared around one-third ofCroatia’s territory to be the inde-pendent Republic of the SrpskaKrajina.

The town of Vukovar wasreduced to rubble in the firstmonths of the war. Ljiljana Alvir,a Croat from Vukovar, lost bothher fiancé and her brother duringthe conquest of the city.

Alvir was only 21 when she wascaptured by Serb forces. She wasreturned home after three days aspart of an exchange of prisoners,her fiancé and brother werenever heard of again.

“Even today I don't have peaceof mind, nor does my family. Wedon't know if our brother is deador alive. We're afraid to light acandle because don't want to con-sider him perished, but also fearnot to light one, because every-body has a candle except him,”she says.

Marica Seatovic, a Serb fromNova Subocka, a village inCroatia, is also calling for the cul-prits to be punished. She lost herhusband in 1991 during the con-

By Elira Çanga

www.prishtinainsight.com

Publisher:

BIRN

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network

Mensa e Studenteve, first floor

10000, Prishtina

Kosovo

Phone: +381 (0) 38 24 33 58

Fax: +381 (0) 38 22 44 98

lawrence@birn.eu.com

Editor-in-Chief:

Lawrence Marzouk

lawrence@birn.eu.com

Editorial Team:

Ana Petruseva, Gordana Igric,

Jeta Xharra, Marcus Tanner,

Petrit Collaku, Shengjyl Osmani,

Artan Mustafa and Kanarina Shehu.

Marketing, Sales & Distribution:

lawrence@birn.eu.com

Design & Layout: “Rrjeti”Arben Grajqevci

Printing: Lindi Printing Center

Copyright © BIRN

Uncomfortable Truths: War CrimesAcross the Balkans many survivors of the bloody conflicts of the 1990s still don’t know what happened to their missing loved ones. In Kosovo, even dis-cussing the suffering of other ethnic communities is strictly taboo. What hope for lasting peace and reconciliation?

news 5Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

YMCK

flict and says his killers havenever been brought to book.

“I went to the neighbouring vil-lage for three days and when I gotback I found my husband killed,together with two other maleneighbours. During the years, Ifound out who the killers were -six Croatian soldiers…I buriedmy husband 20 years ago and stillI have to live with this,” she says.

Vesna Terselic is head ofDocumenta, a centre set up toencourage all levels of Croatiansociety to accept that war crimeshappened on both the Serb andCroat sides.

“We have seen a change in peo-ple’s attitudes during all theseyears, but it is still not enough.The media in Croatia is not inter-ested in writing stories on warcrimes trials. These would notonly inform the public aboutwhat’s happening in the court[ICTY] but also educate and per-suade people to condemn thesekinds of crimes,” she says.

To illustrate the gap betweenthe theory of prosecuting warcriminals and the reality whenthe accused is one of your own,she quotes a national poll the cen-tre carried out in 2006 which sug-gested 61 per cent of Croatsbelieved all war crimes should beinvestigated and punished. Thisdropped sharply when respon-dents were asked if they support-ed the prosecution of Gotovina.

Damir Grubisa, a professor inZagreb University, explains:“Cases like this [Gotovina] mixup war crimes and nationalism,which is not good.”

The Croatian government hasrecently proposed the adoption ofnew laws that would dismiss warcrimes charges issued byBelgrade.

The move has drawn sharp crit-

icism. Following the publicationof a report by AmnestyInternational in October the EUcriticised Zagreb, claiming politi-cians are courting voters who arestrongly opposed to war crimesprosecutions ahead of theDecember parliamentary elec-tion.

Germany, Facing the Past

While events in Germany dur-ing World War II cannot bedirectly compared to the Balkanwars, the way German societycontinues to confront its pastmay serve as an instructiveexample.

Germany has not forgotten thevictims of World War Two,including the six million Jewskilled during the Holocaust.

At the Jewish Museum inBerlin, factual evidence andaccounts of the lives and fates ofJewish people are preserved,along with personal items and areplica gas chamber.

Tanja Petersen, director ofprogrammes at the museum,stresses it is important forGermans to understand the his-tory of relations between theJewish community and other sec-tions of society before, duringand after the war.

That said, she underlines ittook Germany decades to reachthis point, evidenced by the factthe museum was only opened in2001, more than 50 years afterWorld War Two came to an end.

Today in Germany there aremany centres dealing with thedocumentation of Nazi-eracrimes.

The Remembrance,Responsibility, Future founda-tion (Erinnerugn,Verantwortung, Zukunft) com-

pensates victims’ families andsurvivors and is funded jointlyby the German government andthe private sector.

Ralf Possekel, director of pro-grammes, says: “Education is thebest way to understand the pastand to this end, history booksremain the key to learning aboutthe truth”.

History Books Revised

Georg Stober, a 63-year-oldresearcher at the Georg EckertInstitute for InternationalResearch on Textbooks, says,“When I went to school in theearly 60s, we didn't discuss WorldWar Two and the German rolemuch.”

His 32-year-old colleague,Almut Stoletzki, had a totally dif-

ferent experience.“During my school years, in the

period 1980 to 1990, not only wasthe Holocaust and the extermina-tion of the Jews spoken aboutbut, in many cases we weretasked with going and visitingmemorial places or victims’ fami-lies,” she recalls.

Hannes Grandits, chief of theSouth-East Europe department atthe Humboldt University inBerlin, says that the Germanexperience might offer useful les-sons for the Balkans.

“The discovery of truth andunderstanding is a long process,but people in the Balkans need totalk and listen to each other. This,unfortunately, doesn't happenvery often,” he says.

Back in Kosovo the prospect ofethnic Serbs and Albanians

understanding and acceptingeach other’s pain is a distant one.

For Kosovars like Kumnovaand Peric, knowing what hap-pened to their loved ones is justthe first step toward understand-ing and maybe forgiveness.

Without closure for victims,while even mentioning the suffer-ing of ‘the other’ remains taboo,ethnic Serbs and Albanians willremain divided for many years tocome.

Elira Canga is a Tirana-basedjournalist. This article was pro-

duced as part of the BalkanFellowship for Journalistic

Excellence, an initiative of theRobert Bosch Stiftung and

ERSTE Foundation, in coopera-tion with the Balkan

Investigative Reporting Network.

in the Balkans

Photos of the war missing in central Prishtina

The Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA,ran guerrilla attacks from basesthey set up across the border in

Albania during the war.While most Albanians, including

politicians, accept these KLA bases exist-ed in Albanian territory, claims theywere the scenes of horrific war crimesare fiercely rejected.

Allegations that the KLA detained eth-nic Serbs and other Kosovo Albaniansdeemed disloyal in these camps first sur-faced when Carla Del Ponte, a formerICTY prosecutor, published her memoirMadame Prosecutor in 2008.

These claims were repeated in the DickMarty report published in late 2010,along with allegations that KLA leaderscoordinated the removal of internalorgans, such as kidneys, from detaineesand then profited from selling them onthe black market.

EULEX has appointed a team led by USprosecutor John Clint Williamson toinvestigate.

Yet public opinion in Albania remainsdead against the possibility these crimescould have ever taken place on their soil.

In his report, the Swiss senator andCouncil of Europe representative Dick

Marty, claims the KLA brought prisonersof war to an unspecified warehouse nearthe town of Fushe Kruje, 19 km north-west of the capital Tirana. He says somehad their organs removed against theirwill.

The villagers in this region are reluc-tant to talk to journalists, but whenpushed it becomes clear all of them arefurious about the Marty report and feelunfairly tarnished by the organ traffick-ing allegations.

Rexhep is in his late 60s and has livedin Derven village near Fushe Kruje allhis life. He is adamant that allegationsabout torture and organ trafficking arecompletely untrue.

“It is all invented. If something likethat would have happened here, wewould have known from the beginning -everyone here knows everything. But weonly heard about this crazy story somemonths ago, when all the television chan-nels and newspapers reported the allega-tions. I wonder who would believe some-thing like this,” he says.

Llesh, who is in his mid-forties, dis-misses the idea that Serbs were evendetained here.

“During the war in Kosovo, many

Kosovars [ethnic Albanian Kosovans]came here. We gave them a home and wehelped them, but I never heard that Serbswere brought here and killed by theKLA,” he says.

Such disbelief is not limited to the vil-lagers; the Albanian media is united inits condemnation of Marty and any alle-gations of organ trafficking, torture andkilling.

Around 60,000 Albanians signed a peti-tion in January 2011 recording their out-rage at the publication of the report. Oneof the signatories was the former primeminister, Pandeli Majko, demonstratingthe strength of feeling from all sectionsof Albanian society.

Reconciliation inthe Region

Natasa Kandicis head of theHumanitarian

Law Center inBelgrade and has setup RECOM, a region-al commission aimedat fostering reconcili-ation through docu-menting the experi-ences of the victimsand survivors of thewars across theBalkans.

Kandic believesthat war crimes trialswill only achieve a certain amount, her organisa-tion is lobbying for a series of public hearingsacross the region to give people the chance to talkabout what happened to them.

“To name victims, testify in public, listen to thevoices of survivors; this will help to build a cul-ture of understanding between societies. Wealways point to the number, but it is important tohave the names and the stories,” she says.

“Cooperation with the ICTY is still regarded asa distressing obligation, the necessary price forjoining the European Union,” says Natasa Kandic,director of Humanitarian Law Center.

War Crimes on Albanian Soil?

YMCK

business6 Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

The opening of Albania’s firsthighway in June 2009 fromthe port of Durres to the

Kosovo border has failed signifi-cantly to stimulate businessbetween the two countries, analy-sis by Prishtina Insight suggests.

After spending 1 billion euro onthe Albanian half of the “PatrioticHighway”, the value of tradebetween the two countries roseonly modestly, from 26 to 30 mil-lion euro from 2009 to 2010.

In percentage terms, Albania’sshare of Kosovo’s exports actuallydeclined over that period; Albaniatook 16 per cent of Kosovo’sexports in 2009 and only 10 percent in 2010.

Figures for the first nine monthsof 2011 show demand for Kosovo’sgoods in Albania has not increasedmuch since then.

On the other side of the border,the opening of the highway, builtby Turkish-US consortium BechtelEnka, has resulted in a slight risein imports from Albania in per-centage terms.

Albanian products represented3.2 per cent of Kosovo imports in2010, up from 2.8 per cent the yearbefore.

Kosovo imports from Albaniahave risen more sharply this year,however, as a result of the imposi-tion of an embargo on Serbianproducts in July.

They rose by 25 per cent in thefirst nine months of 2011.

With the construction of theKosovo part of the highway wellunderway - the first sectionopened this month – and with

plans for Albania to give Kosovouse of a port at Shengjin, businessleaders remain optimistic that tieswill strengthen over the long term.

Trade growing slowly:

The value of goods enteringKosovo from Albania through theVermica crossing, which is on thenew highway, has certainlyincreased between 2009 and 2010 -from 114 million euro to 192 mil-lion euro. [This includes importsof Albanian goods, as well asgoods from other countries tran-siting Albania to Kosovo].

But the role of the highway inthis increase is unclear as thevalue of goods crossing the fron-tier at Merdare from Serbia toKosovo also rose sharply over thesame period from 219 to 278 mil-lion euro.

These trade levels are well

below those recorded at Hani iElezit, the border between Kosovoand Macedonia, where the value ofgoods imported into Kosovothrough this point in 2010 was 696million euro, up a modest 11 mil-lion on the previous year.

Some 173 million euro worth ofgoods were exported from Kosovothrough Hani i Elezit in 2010, upfrom 95 million euro, compared toKosovo goods exported throughVermica which recorded just 37million euro, up from 21 millioneuro.

Andrea Capussela, former direc-tor of the economics departmentat the International CivilianOffice, said there was little eco-nomic justification for the newhighway given the continuingimportance of the port ofThessaloniki, which can bereached via Macedonia.

“The highway to the port of

Durres was meant to provide analternative to Thessaloniki butDurres is a much smaller, and lessefficient port and it suffers fromsilting up,” he said.

“Economic integration betweenthe two Albanian nations will cer-tainly grow and no geopoliticalrisks endanger the route throughAlbania, unlike those throughSerbia and Macedonia,” he added.

“But all that this called for wasimprovements to the existing two-lane road, which could have beendone at a fraction of the cost.

“A four-lane highway shouldwait until the growth of trade andtraffic justified it. This projectlacks an economic rationale, andunsurprisingly private capitalstayed away from it.

“The government undertook itwithout having planned it, studiedits feasibility or lining up thefinances: the only reason for build-

Costly Patriotic Highway project has had only a negligible impact on trade between the two countries, figures suggest

By Besiana Xharra

Pan-Albanian Highway Fails to

Ahundred euros a day. That’show much Faton, anAlbanian, and Igor, a Serb, -

long-time partners in crime fromthe divided town of Mitrovica -earn from joint smuggling opera-tions.

In this impoverished communi-ty, split between two warring com-munities, 50 euros each a daymight sound like a decent enoughsum.

But Faton and Igor say it’s only apittance. A few months back theywere swimming in money.

“We could then make up to 2,000euros a day smuggling fuel,” Igorrecalls, nostalgically.

“Everything’s changed. Fuel isnow more expensive in the North[of Mitrovica] than the South, sothe one thing left to do is smuggleSerbian medicines, which[Kosovo] Albanian pharmaciesstill want.”

The goods enter the northern,Serb-run part of Kosovo via sideroads and through paths in woods.

Little or nothing passes throughthe official frontier crossings atBrnjak and Jarinje, where EU cus-toms officers and Kosovo policeare deployed.

The decline and virtual fall ofthe market in smuggled petrol andother goods follows months of ten-sions over who will control the twoborder crossings.

But the crucial blow for smug-glers came from Belgrade inSeptember when it imposed a new18 per cent VAT on all Serbiancompanies operating in Serb-runNorthern Kosovo.

Prices of basic goods have sinceshot up in the four Serb-run

municipalities of NorthMitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potokand Leposavic.

Many goods now cost more inthe Serb-run North than they do inthe Albanian-run South, leavingsmugglers with less profits.

A litre of fuel in the north,which cost 0.8 euros in August,now sells for 1.35 euros, for exam-ple.

The main source of easy moneyfor smugglers, selling low-cost fuelfrom the North in the South, hasdried up.

“I’m not saying smuggling hasfully ceased but the new circum-stances have produced results,”Kosovo police spokesman BesimHoti says.

One resident of NorthernKosovo said it would probably paybetter now for smugglers to workin the opposite direction, sellinggoods from the South in the North.

But most Serbs wouldn’t feelcomfortable benefiting the KosovoAlbanian economy this way.

“The crime gangs from theNorth, who have amassed greatwealth, wouldn’t consider thiswork patriotic,” this resident toldPrishtina Insight.

“A Serb attempting to makesome money this way wouldencounter problems.”

Even longstanding colleagueslike Faton and Igor have to be care-ful these days in BosnjackaMahala, a rare ethnically mixedzone in Northern Mitrovica,where Serbs and Albanians cutsmuggling deals.

Haven for smugglers:

Smuggling between Serbs andKosovo Albanians dates back tothe Kosovo war of 1998-1999 and itsaftermath.

Following NATO’s armed inter-vention in the conflict, a new de-

facto border emerged in theBalkans along the river Ibar inNorthern Kosovo, runningthrough Mitrovica.

But the big boost in profitsbecame available after February17, 2008, when Kosovo proclaimedindependence from Serbia.

Local Serbs immediately seizedcontrol of the Jarinje and Brnjakborder crossings and from that dayuntil July 25 this year, EU customsofficers on the crossings did littlemore than register vehicles enter-ing.

They charged no customs dutiesbut instead instructed truck driv-ers to report to the Kosovo govern-ment customs terminal in SouthMitrovica, which rarely any did.

The fact that Serbia exemptedSerbian companies in Kosovo frompaying VAT - a measure taken to

encourage Serbs to remain inKosovo - also increased the lucra-tive possibilities for smugglers.

According to one source,Serbian companies registered inNorthern Kosovo paid around 18per cent less for basic goods suchas detergent, nappies and tooth-paste than they would have paid inSerbia.

“The goods were stored inMitrovica, Zubin Potok andLeposavic, from where Albaniansmugglers took them by van to theSouth, where they were far morecompetitively priced than goodslegally imported into Kosovo,» thesource explained.

"The smugglers could sell ajumbo pack nappies for 13.7 euros,well below the normal price inPrishtina of 18 to 21 euros,” headded.

It is estimated that until July 25,when the Kosovo government sentspecial police to seize the Jarinjeand Brnjak checkpoints, 75 percent of Serbian goods intended forNorthern Kosovo ended up beingsold to Albanians in the South.

The same source said that smug-gling in household goods wasreserved for the small fry. The big-ger fish dealt in fuel, which camein tanks directly from the Pancevorefinery, north of Belgrade.

Some of this fuel enteredKosovo but then ended up back inSerbia, where it could also be soldfor a handsome profit.

Companies, usually based in thesouthwest town of Novi Pazar,would transport other goods toKosovo, and fill up with over 1,000litres of petrol on their way backinto Serbia, and then sell it.

BIRN’s undercover reporter reveals how fortunes made daily by smuggling goods from Serbia into Kosovo have dried up.

Roads surrounding the Zubin Potok Lake in northern Kosovo are used by smugglers.

By BIRN Team in Zubin Potok, Kosutovo,Rudare and Mitrovica

Kosovo’s Smugglers Mourn End

YMCK

business 7Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

ing this highway lies in its name: it is apatriotic highway.”

Kosovo’s Minister of Finance, BedriHamza, disagrees, maintaining that thehighway has resulted in a big increase intrade between Albania and Kosovo.

“Cross-border trade passing throughVermica rose in the last three years by morethan 100 per cent,” he insisted.

“Data show that only during first sixmonths of this year, trade between Kosovoand Albania increased by about 50 per centon the same period last year,” Hamza added.

What happened to the port?

Businesses in Kosovo believe it is in thenational interest to strengthen ties withAlbania, particularly if Albania honours itspledge to give Kosovo control of the port ofShengjin.

In 2006, the Albanian Prime Minister, SaliBerisha, agreed to give Kosovo a concessionto this port, which is just off the “PatrioticHighway”.

But businesses lament that little progresshas been made on activating the concession.

Agim Shahini, head of Kosovo BusinessAlliance, says trade needs to increase with

Albania to make up for the loss of Serbianimports, given the strains between the twocountries.

He detects several reasons why theeconomies of the two countries are notmore closely linked.

“These range from foreign competition tothe fact that both countries still depend onimports because their local products remainlow and poor,” Shahini said.

“The road infrastructure [improvements]would have made more sense had theKosovo government realized the potential ofShengjin port, as the leaders of two coun-tries stated they would, years ago.

“By not doing anything, businesses con-tinue to use Thessaloniki port more,”Shahini added.

“The 2012 Kosovo budget contains nofunds for investments in Shengjin port,” henoted.

Ramiz Kelmendi, one of Kosovo’s mostpowerful businessmen, owner of food distri-bution company Elkos Group, said Kosovobusinesses would use Shengjin if the gov-ernment made it feasible.

“But the Kosovo government must takethe initiative because private businessescannot,” Kelmendi said.

Safet Gerxhaliu, head of the KosovoChamber Commerce, also believes the gov-ernment should make more use of theopportunity.

“Shengjin could be of great importancefor the economies of both countries, espe-cially following construction of the high-way, but our government has done nothingabout it, and has not explained why not,” he

said.Deputy Prime Minister and Kosovo gov-

ernment spokesman Hajredin Kuci saidqueries about the port needed to be referredto the Ministry of Transport.

But neither the renamed Ministry ofInfrastructure nor the Ministry of Financereplied to our questions by the time of pub-lication.

The Highway between Albania and Kosovo has failed to spark trade.

Deliver the Goods

“We had up to 20 fuel tankerscoming into Kosovo each day,”Faton recalled. “The price wasridiculously low. The big playerspurchased it for 0.54 euros a litrewithout tax, so as to supply theNorth.”

Faton’s role in the fuel businesswas to clear the road from theAlbanian village of Kosutovo tothe village of Milosevo, not farfrom Prishtina.

From where it was taken to thebig cities of Prizren, Peja [Pec inSerbian] and Prishtina. Kosutovois close to Zubin Potok and thecrossing at Brnjak.

While the smugglers grewwealthy, the Kosovo governmentwas losing approximately fortymillion euros a year in unpaidimport duties. Local companiesimporting goods legally sufferedbadly.

A source from the Kosovo policetold Prishtina Insight that theybelieved around 20 people from theNorth “became millionairesthanks to this business. Most ofthem are connected with radicalpoliticians who we have beeninvestigating for years.”

Paths and side roads:

Since the Kosovo governmentdeployed its own officials on theborder with Serbia, local Serbshave manned mounted barricadeson roads leading to the Jarinje andBrnjak crossings.

Neither frontier can now beused to transport people andgoods. The Serbs have built newside roads to avoid any contactwith Kosovo police and customsofficers.

An official from the EU law mis-sion, EULEX, says parallel cross-ings now run through the moun-tains past a dam to Zubin Potok.

“We have had reports of carspassing by the Gazivoda lake dur-ing the night,” he said, referring

to one of these new rat-runs.“From there you can reach the

Mitrovica-Novi Pazar road thatleads to Zubin Potok. This wascleverly planned and carried out.”

In September, the NATO peace-keeping force, KFOR, tried to shutdown one of the many side roadsclose to Jarinje.

But the action had little effect.New routes always spring up andside roads still transport peopleand small quantities of goods intoKosovo.

Since VAT was introduced thefuel business centred on the vil-lage of Kosutovo has declined.

Twelve petrol stations werebuilt on the 13km road fromGazivoda dam to Kosutovo whendemand for cheap petrol peaked.Three petrol stations have nowbeen closed on the road betweenthe villages of Zubce andKosutovo which is just a few kilo-metres long.

These days a litre of dieselcosts 1.37 euro in NorthernKosovo and 1.25 euro in the South,while laundry detergent is 15 to 20per cent cheaper in Prishtinathan North Mitrovica.

Goods still enter North Kosovobut these are now for the localSerbian market in the North, andprices in the North are no longercompetitive with the rest ofKosovo.

Faton and Igor say they havefallen on hard times and have tosmuggle medicine instead.

There is no shortage of com-petitively priced drugs in Kosovobut old habits die hard, andmany consumers still preferSerbian drugs over newer substi-tutes.

Faton waits for his buyers inSouth Mitrovica to give him theirorder list, which he then gives toIgor who gets them for him. Forthose who remember the goldendays of the fuel tankers, it’s slimpickings.

Kosovo is predicted to be thefastest growing economy inthe Eurozone next year.

Analysis of the InternationalMonetary Fund’s recently releasedpredicted growth rates for 2012 byGazeta Jeta ne Kosove shows thatEurope’s poorest country will alsoexperience the highest growth rateamid the Eurozone.

The IMF has placed Kosovoahead of 16 other countries whichuse the Euro, and equal to Estonia,which is also expected to see aGPD growth of 4 per cent.

Kosovo remains on top, despitelast week seeing its expectedgrowth for 2012 lowered from 5 percent to 4 as a result of the darken-ing world economic outlook.

While officially the Eurozoneincludes just 17 countries, allmembers of the European Union,Kosovo and Montenegro also use

the troubled currency as theirlegal tender.

Following a visit last week by anIMF team, its leader JohannesWiegand said Kosovo’s small size aisolation from the global financialmarkets has so far shielded it.

“Kosovo has remained largelyunaffected by financial turbulencein the euro area, owing to limitedintegration into global financialmarkets,” he said.

“The economy is projected togrow by 5 percent in real termsthis year,” he said, adding thatinflation is likely to fall next year.

“The banking system hasremained stable, with healthy liq-uidity and capital buffers.

“Going forward, a reneweddownturn in the euro area couldnegatively affect remittances andforeign direct investment.

“As a result, the mission hasmarked down projected real GDPgrowth in 2012 to 4 percent.”

Kosovo’s growth, however, islargely a result of remittancesfrom diaspora, growth in lendingand increase government spend-

ing, particularly on the highway. According to the fund, the coun-

try must energise the private sec-tor, particularly as the country’ssudden expansion in governmentspending was unsustainable. InAugust, the fund wrote: “Goingforward, policies should focus onenhancing competitiveness to fos-ter the emergence of a tradablesector that can drive economicdevelopment and self-sustainedgrowth, and help reduce unem-ployment.

“To this end, it will be critical toupgrade public infrastructure andeducation, improve the businessclimate, and maintain competitivewage levels.”

Kosovo: Fastest GrowingEconomy in Eurozone

By Lawrence Marzoukand Florina Hajdini

Austria 1.60%Belgium 1.50%Cyprus 1.00%Denmark 1.50%Finland 2.20%France 1.40%Germany 1.30%Greece -2.00%Ireland 1.50%Italy 0.30%Kosovo 4.00%Luxembourg 2.70%Malta 2.20%Montenegro 3.50%Netherlands 1.30%Portugal -1.80%Estonia 4.00%Slovakia 3.30%Slovenia 2.00%Spain 1.10%

of Golden Age

YMCK

neighbourhood news8 Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

Macedonia Turns Into Nation of Taxpayers

Serbian economy cannotescape the troubles beset-ting the eurozone, a top

economist warns.Goran Nikolic, economist from

the New Policy Centre, said theworsening crisis in the eurozonewas bound to negatively affectSerbia's foreign trade and cur-rency.

“The EU takes more than halfof Serbia's exports, so any diffi-

culties in the EU will result in afall in demand [for Serbiangoods],” Nikolic told PrishtinaInsight.

Nikolic said Serbia would bemost directly affected by thedeepening crisis in Italy, becauseItalian companies are among thebiggest investors in Serbia andItaly is one of the most impor-tant EU markets for Serbianproducts.

The Italian automobile compa-ny Fiat and the clothing manu-facturer Benetton are two ofItaly's biggest investors in theWestern Balkan country.

Italy was Serbia's top exportpartner in the first 11 months of2011. Serbia exported goodsworth $1.01 billion (about 740 mil-lion euro) to the country over thisperiod.

Nikolic said falling demand inItaly had already hit Serbianexports and one consequence ofthis would be a decrease in thestandard of living.

The crisis is also expected tohit Serbian banking system asworld markets become waryabout lending, making borrow-ing by Serbian banks more diffi-cult and more expensive.

"Serbia can also expect lessinterest among investors, whichwill jeopardize the stability ofdinar," Nikolic noted.

Recalling the existing impactof the crisis on the exchange rate,he said the national currency hadbeen devalued already by almost25 per cent in the last three years.

"It is difficult to predict whatwill happen to the dinar in thesecond half of next year butgiven the uncertainty of signifi-cant foreign inflows in 2012, theweakening of the dinar againstthe euro seems to be a real solu-tion," he concluded.

While most Balkan countries, notablyGreece, have a struggle on theirhands when it comes to getting peo-

ple to pay their taxes on time - or ever - thatproblem no longer affects Macedonia.

Experts say a spate of reforms has givenofficials more effective control of financialtransactions while stiff penalties for offend-ers have also boosted the tax take.

While experts welcome the trend, somecaution that increased tax discipline doesnot necessarily mean that much moremoney is going into the budget, as incometax is only one segment of the government’sincome.

“The fact that more people now than everreport their transactions doesn’t mean thatthe state’s overall tax take has increasedmuch,” Abdulmenaf Bexheti, economicsprofessor at the Tetovo-based South EasternEurope University, said.

Latest figures from Macedonia’s PublicRevenue Office say 83 percent of income taxpayers now voluntarily submit reports ontheir annual earnings on time.

In 2010, 160,293 people of 193,773 peoplewho were detected as having earned addi-tional income beyond regular wages andpensions reported these extra earnings ontime, marking a 10 per cent increase on therate in 2009.

Compared with 2005, before PrimeMinister Nikola Gruevski took power, thedifference is pronounced.

That year, only a handful, 14,830 people,declared they had earned additional income,which should be taxed at a rate of 10 percent.

“People in the past kept payment of taxesat the backs of their minds,” economics pro-fessor Savo Astalkoski, from Skopje’s FONUniversity, told Prishtina Insight.

People now race to pay taxes,experts say

He sees it as positive that “people nowrace to pay taxes on time and gradually learnhow to calculate their annual income”.

By law, Macedonian companies have untilFebruary 15 to declare their taxes for the pre-vious year. Individuals who have earnedextra income have until March 15 to declarethese additional earnings.

Those failing to make declarations on timerisk fines of 500 to 1,000 euro, plus back pay-ment of the regular 10 per cent tax that theyowe.

“The [current high rate of] payment ofincome taxes is a great indicator of tax disci-

pline in this country,” Vesna Novakovic,spokesperson for the Revenue Office, said.

Novakovic said the revenue office hadmade big changes in the past few years toboost efficiency.

“We have modernized the office and IT sys-tems and have updated and simplified theprocedures,” she recalled.

Experts say changes have made it mucheasier to monitor financial transactions.

They also say that much of the new disci-pline is down to increased fear of penalties,after the authorities made it clear they wereserious about tax evasion.

“Macedonia has completely changed its taxsystem, introducing a centralized treasurysystem and transaction accounts,” Bexhetisaid.

So-called transaction accounts, introducedtwo years ago, are now obligatory for every-one. These accounts are linked to the centraltreasury, making it easier for the authoritiesto monitor what is happening with moneyflows.

The new system alerted the treasury to thefact that 33,440 people last year “forgot” todeclare their untaxed income.

“Setting up an efficient and fair tax sys-tem” is a “very complicated issue” for a devel-oping country like Macedonia, Astalkoskiexplained.

Before and since independence in the early1990s, many people were paid in cash, whichmade it hard for the authorities to keep accu-rate tracks of their income and tax it.

The tax administration in the past was notcomputerized, he added, and relied on under-paid and poorly trained staff. All of this con-tributed to widespread tax evasion.

Although this problem still exists in the big“grey” economy and among the unemployed,who officially make up 30 per cent of the pop-ulation, observers say the problem is less pro-nounced than before.

Fear of incurring penalties has drivenmany people to abandon cash payment and go

legitimate through the banks.“Over the past years news bulletins have

been increasingly filled with reports aboutpeople being charged with tax evasion, frompublic office holders to businessmen.

“Along with the boost to financial inspec-tions, it’s created a different atmosphereamong people,” Astalkoski noted.

One recent high-profile case concernsmedia mogul Velija Ramkovski who wasarrested at the end of 2010 and is currently ontrial for major financial crimes including taxevasion.

In another recent case, following a taxinspection in the eastern town of Strumica,prosecutors in October filed suits for tax eva-sion against ten company bosses from theregion.

“Taxes are by definition forced paymentsso the element of fear has to exist,”Astalkoski told Prishtina Insight.

But economists say increased tax disci-pline is not enough on its own to transformthe nation’s finances.

No matter how efficient the revenue officeis in collecting taxes, they argue that until theeconomy starts growing markedly, the boostfrom increased income tax takes will only belimited.

“VAT, excise duties and customs taxes…make up the bulk of the tax income in thecountry,” Bexheti noted.

‘The impact on the state budget fromincome tax has actually fallen slightly in thepast few years,” he added.

Meanwhile the revenue office and financeministry at the end of each year regularlyshow slightly increases in overall tax rev-enue.

In 2010 the revenue office boasted that ithad collected 4.01 per cent more tax that yearthan the year before.

The total income from all taxes for 2010 was50.2 billion denars, around 815 million euros.In other words, 55 per cent of all budgetincome came from collected taxes.

Observers say that the amount of moneycollected from taxes depends foremost onwhether the economy is going up or down,and less on the tax discipline.

After peeking with over 5 per cent growthin 2008, the following year was devastating,when the country barely escaped sliding intorecession amid the global financial crisis.

A slow recovery started with 2 per cent eco-nomic growth in 2010 and experts forecastgrowth this year of 3 to 4 per cent.

The World Bank forecasts 2.5 per centgrowth for 2012 while the government is moreoptimistic and says it can achieve 4.5 per cent.

Zoran Ivanovski, economics professor atthe South East European University, inTetovo, argues that Prime Minister Gruevskishould at least be credited for changing peo-ple’s perceptions about taxes.

“High rates of tax evasion in the Balkanscame about over the years largely thanks to aperception that those who’d managed to avoidpaying tax were role models for the rest,” hetold Prishtina Insight.

“In England, on the other hand, payinghigh tax rates is a question of prestige.”

A survey published this month by thePricewaterhouseCoopers consultancy firm inBritain shows that Macedonians have the eas-iest procedures for paying taxes in the region.

It ranked Macedonia 33rd out of 183 coun-tries included in the survey. Kosovo, surpris-ingly to some, was placed second in theregion after Macedonia in 41st place. Croatiafollows in 42nd place before Greece, Bulgaria,Bosnia and Montenegro.

According to the same surveyMacedonians spend an average of 26 hour peryear paying taxes, which is relatively little.

People in Kosovo spend 56 hours, Serbs 121,while Bulgarians hold the record in theBalkans, having to spend 171 hours on taxannually.

Ironically, Macedonia does well in collect-ing taxes from a comparatively poor popula-tion.

The opposite can be said for Macedonia’sneighbour, Greece, where many people, civilservants especially, have long enjoyed highsalaries and generous welfare payments, inspite of which the government has had a hardtime collecting taxes.

The EU High Commissioner, Olli Rehn, onNovember 8 pinpointed Greece’s inability tocollect its taxes as one of the biggest causes ofthe debt crisis that the country is suffering.

"We have warned about the problems relat-ed to the fight against tax evasion for twoyears,” he said.

“In every report we have raised this, andwe have underlined the importance of takingappropriate measures to fight tax evasion,which is a serious sickness in the Greek soci-ety and economy,” Rehn told a panel dedicat-ed to the Greek crisis.

A combination of reforms to the system and penalties for non-payers has made Macedonia a model for the region when it comes to collecting taxes.

Italy Crisis Will Hit Serbian Exports, Economist

By Sinisa Jakov Marusic

By Bojana Barlovac

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is widely credited for the increase in tax collection.

neighbourhood news 9Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

The posters went up under thecover of darkness, markinga darker phase in the cam-

paign for next spring’s elections.The images showed the capital’s

mayor, Dragan Djilas, in conversa-tion with the former finance min-ister, Mladjan Dinkic. “Theybrought Belgrade’s economy to thebrink of collapse,” said the cap-tion.

Meanwhile, hundreds of ban-ners have also appeared across thecity attacking the leader of theSerbian Progressive Party,Tomislav Nikolic.

The first image on the postershows Nikolic when he was vice-president of the Radicals, wearinga T-shirt honouring VojislavSeselj, the party’s leader who iscurrently on trial in The Haguefor war crimes.

Alongside it is a more recentimage showing Nikolic wearing asuit. The caption questionswhether the Progressives’ leaderhas really shed the hardlinenationalism of his Radical daysfor a more moderate stance.

While negative campaigns arenothing new in Serbia, analystssay the attack ads for the latestelection are the fiercest in adecade.

“This is a textbook example ofguerrilla marketing, dominatedby posters and pamphlets thathave not been signed,” saidCvijetin Milivojevic, general man-ager of the Pragma PR agency.

Nevertheless, he said, theposters had the “handwriting” ofthe Democrats and Progressives.“I have to admit they are witty,” headded.

Most Serbs associate viciouspolitical propaganda with the war-torn 1990s. The strongman leader,Slobodan Milosevic, wasdescribed as a dictator by hisopponents. His regime in turnlabelled its critics, including theformer prime minister ZoranDjindjic, as traitors.

Neven Cveticanin, a researchassociate at Belgrade University’s

Institute of Social Sciences, sayspolitics became less polarisedafter 2000, when Milosevic wasousted. Though stark divisionsremained, the mainstream partiesgenerally toned down theirattacks on each other.

“The political parties cohabit-ed. There were no strong words,”Cveticanin said. But he added this“age of innocence” ended with theformation of the current govern-ment.

The surprising coalitionbetween the Democratic Party andthe Socialists has forced together

bitter rivals, while ensuring thatthe Progressives are kept out ofgovernment.

In the new landscape, oldalliances have been ditched andeach party is fighting for itself.“The war of all against all start-ed,” said Cveticanin.

For some analysts, the re-emer-gence of negative campaigningsuggests that a kind of normalcyis returning to Serbian politics.

All the elections held since 1997have been called early, by govern-ments that were facing collapse.Next spring’s vote will be the first

in more than a decade where thegovernment has served its fullterm in office. Analysts say thishas given the parties more time toprepare their publicity – includ-ing the attacks on their opponents.

“There is no campaign withouta negative campaign. It’s normaland it can have a motivationaleffect on voters, as long as the par-ties don’t cross the line,” saidMarko Blagojevic from the Centrefor Free Elections and Democracy,an NGO that monitors polls.

Some experts say negative cam-paigning in long-establisheddemocracies is traditionally thepreserve of political outsiders.Attack ads are an effective way forfringe groups to get noticed.

In Serbia however, the cam-paigns are thought to be the workof the main rivals, the governingDemocrats and the oppositionProgressives.

Cveticanin said the stakes arehigh for all the top parties. Withthe country going through toughtimes, there is plenty of blame toapportion but not much credit tobe claimed.

He said the attack ads areunlikely to win the mainstreamparties any new supporters, andmay put some people off votingaltogether. The only likely benefi-ciaries, he added, would be thosepolitical groups that had managedto avoid being targeted in thismanner.

However, Milivojevic said theads were unlikely to change any-one’s sympathies.

“Voters have already made uptheir minds and the politiciansknow that. That’s why they start-ed their campaigns on time,” hesaid.

Posters attacking Serbian Progressive Party leader Tomislav Nikolic have appeared across Belgrade.

Serbia Election Fight Turns NastyExperts say posters attacking top poll contenders may suggest desperation – as well as a kind of normalcy.

The International Criminal Tribunal for for-mer Yugoslavia, ICTY, indicted former gen-eral Ante Gotovina for war crimes in 2001

connected to Operation Storm.In the 1995 army operation, Croatian forces suc-

cessfully overran a slab of Serb-held territories insouthwest Croatia, quashing a rebel stateletcalled the Republic of Serbian Krajina.

During and after the operation, about 200,000Serbs fled Croatia while some of those whoremained were killed. Gotovina was arrested in2005, and in April this year was sentenced to 24years in prison. His defence has appealed.

A hate figure to many Serbs, to many CroatsGotovina remains a hero of the war of independ-ence from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, especiallyin Zadar, where he was born.

During the conflict in Croatia from 1991 to 1995he commanded Croatian troops in the Zadarregion.

Danijel Telesmanic, a Zadar councillor from thegoverning Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, saidGotovina had "defended the truth about himselfand the Homeland War at the ICTY with honesty,dignity and pride.

"In awarding him in the name of Zadar, weexpress our support for ... his just fight for truth,”Telesmanic said.

Opposition leftist councillors abstained fromthe vote, not out of criticism of Gotovina butbecause they said they feared the award was apolitical stunt.

“We consider Gotovina a hero of the HomelandWar, but we don't want to manipulate his name fordaily political purposes,” said Vesna Sabolic, ofthe Croatian People's Party, a junior part of theopposition Social Democrat-led coalition at statelevel.

Croatia is heading towards a general electionthat takes place in two weeks. The governing HDZis widely expected to lose to the Social Democratsand their allies.

Meanwhile the award will be handed toGotovina's family on November 24 at a ceremoni-al session of the city council marking Zadar Day.

Croatian City of Zadarto Award GotovinaWar-battered seaside town courts controversy by deciding to award a convictedwar criminal who remains a hero to many Croats.

By Boris Pavelic

By Gordana Andrci

YMCK

marketing10 Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

neighbourhood 11Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

Serbian police launched a crackdownon Tuesday on illegal migrants andtheir handlers - but nothing can stop

the inexorable rise in the numbers of peo-ple trying to enter the country.

Serbian, Hungarian and Austrian policein a joint operation arrested 17 people inSerbia on Tuesday, suspected of smugglingseveral hundred migrants into and throughthe country.

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacicsaid the arrests were of great importanceand would have an impact on the forthcom-ing EU decision on Serbia's candidate coun-try status. EU leaders are due to decide on

this issue on December 9 in Brussels.“This is not the first operation of this

type but it will certainly have an impact onthe [EU] Council of Ministers, as this issuewas one of the important topics at previousmeetings,” Dacic said.

Up till the end of October, police filed 127criminal charges against 252 personsaccused of smuggling more than 1,000 ille-gal migrants into Serbia.

But immigrants are still coming in.Serbian customs found 12 hidden in a truckthat tried to enter Serbia on the southernborder crossing at Presevo on Tuesday.

Since the EU lifted visa requirements forSerbia in December 2009, the number ofillegal immigrants entering the countryhas significantly increased.

In the first ten months of 2011, policefound more than 6,000 illegal migrants on

Serbian soil. A few years ago the annualnumber was only about 750.

Most enter from Macedonia. This year1,700 sought asylum status. But Serbia isnot a destination point for these asylumseekers, just a stop-over on the way toWestern Europe.

If they are arrested, they face chargesand fines of 7,000 to 10,000 dinars [€70 to€100]. As many cannot pay such fees, theyreceive a custodial sentence.

“After they are released they are obligedto leave the country but there are no con-trols ensuring they’ve obeyed the order,”Rados Djurovic, head of Serbia's AsylumProtection Centre, said.

Illegal immigrants can often be seenhanging around train stations in Serbia.Many lurk around the northern bordertown of Subotica, waiting to enter EU mem-

ber state Hungary.“As we have readmission agreement with

Hungary, if their police arrest them, theyare sent back to Serbia, so they just go backand forth, back and forth,” Djurovic said.

But he explained that Serbia did not havereadmission agreement with most of thecountries from which the immigrantscame, so these people cannot easily bedeported.

“Serbia would have to sign readmissionagreements [to deport them] and then checkwith their embassies that these people real-ly are the citizens of alleged country," headded.

Many don’t have any papers and many oftheir countries of origin, such asAfghanistan, don’t have efficient registries."The costs of deportation can be enor-mous,” Djurovic said.

Serbia Battles to Stem Migrant Invasion

The evening of February 20 shouldhave been special for XhevrieHysenaj, a 55-year-old Roma woman

who then lived with her family in a campnear Tirana’s train station.

Her son, Elis, was getting married andthe little Roma community of some 50 fam-ilies, which occupied the slum of muddy,rutted roads and metal shacks, was celebrat-ing with music and traditional songs.

At the stroke of midnight, as the colourfulsound of Roma music pouring from thecamp was dying down, two of theirAlbanian neighbours arrived unannounced.

Local custom in Albania is that neigh-bours often join in wedding celebrations,bearing gifts for the newlyweds. But Besmirand Klodian Vladi had more sinister plans.

Shouting insults and armed with sticksthey beat Xhevrije and her family while set-ting fire to part of their settlement, tellingthem to shift their digs.

The two attackers, who where later identi-fied by the police, returned unsatisfied thefollowing day, threatening to “burn them outif they did not relocate”.

The terrorized victims sought the assis-tance of the police, but the police failed tooffer or provide protection.

Fearing for their safety and feelingshunned by the authorities, the little Romacommunity decided they had no option butto abandon the camp.

As soon as the Roma left the camp theVladi cousins proceeded to demolish thedwellings.

Two weeks later, local human rightsactivists who had received word of theattacks made the case public, promptingcalls to investigate by the OSCE and the USand EU ambassadors.

“We strongly urge the responsible author-ities to take appropriate action by investi-gating the disturbing February events inorder to ensure that such acts are notrepeated,” the three ambassadors said in astatement.

“We also encourage the authorities to

take the appropriate action to provide neces-sary social assistance, including housing, tothose people who have now found them-selves homeless,” the statement added.

The ambassadors reminded the govern-ment of Sali Berisha that Albania had sub-scribed to the Declaration of the Decade ofRoma Inclusion and had ratified several rel-evant UN conventions: on the Rights of theChild; the Elimination of all Forms ofRacial Discrimination; and the Eliminationof all Forms of Discrimination againstWomen

The statement also underlined that thefight against discrimination and the protec-tion of the rights of Roma is one of 12 keypriority areas requiring particular atten-tion, set forth by the European Commissionas a precondition before Albania can obtainEU candidate country status.

Following the calls for a probe, on March17 the Tirana prosecutors’ office initiatedan investigation. Although the police hadearlier claimed that the Roma dwellers “hadinitiated the conflict” with their neighboursand had refused to press charges, theyarrested the Vladi cousins that day.

Following the arrests, the prosecutors’office charged Besmir and Klodian Vladiwith “damage to private property througharson” and with “inciting hatred and con-flict between ethnic groups or races,” basedarticle 256 of Albania’s penal code.

In the ensuing court case in Tirana’s dis-trict court the victims identified the Vladicousins as the attackers. The prosecutorssought two-and-half years’ imprisonmentfor them.

But when the verdict was read out onJune 7 by presiding judge Shkelqin Mustafa,prosecutors and human rights lawyers rep-resenting the Roma families were in for asurprise.

Based on the testimonies of the victims,the judge ruled that two defendants wereguilty of the arson attack on the Romacamp, which left the 50 families homeless.

But he did not find them guilty of theother charge, of inciting racial hatred.

In the ruling, the judge wrote that the twodefendants proceeded to attack the Romacamp after feeling bothered by the musiccoming from the wedding.

According to the judge’s interpretation of

the law, the crime of racial hatred can onlybe proven on the basis of “active actionsthat produce hatred between ethnicities andraces through words or writing”.

Mustafa said that because the two defen-dants did not burn the Roma camp before,but only on the night of the wedding, theirprime motive appeared to be anger aboutthe loud music that apparently was disturb-ing their sleep.

“This crime can only be consummated bydisseminating pamphlets and holding pub-lic rallies that lead to hatred between racesand ethnicities,” the judge concluded.

For the actual arson attacks, based ontheir youth, 23-year-old Besmir Vladi wasjailed for six months and 22-year-oldKlodian Vladi for four.

Prosecutors have appealed the verdict.Andi Kananaj, a local human rights lawyerrepresenting the victims, said the rulingsent a worrying message.

“The ruling issued by the judge in this caseis absurd,” Kananaj said. “The finding in theverdict that racist and ethnic hatred cannotonly be incited in words or writing and notthe attacks itself is disturbing,” he added.

Albania Absolves Roma Camp Arsonistsof RacismTirana’s District court has ruled thattwo men who burned down part of aRoma camp were not guilty of thecrime of racial hatred, as this mustinvolve use of ‘words or writing’

By Gordana Andrci

By Besar Likmeta

Roma in Albania are often subject to discrimination.

YMCK

feature12 Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

Novi Sad, a sprawling city 80km north of Belgrade, wasonce a dreary mixture of

Communist-era concrete apart-ment blocks and run-down build-ings dating back to the height ofthe Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Now the city boasts glitzy barsand restaurants and is host eachsummer to EXIT - one of Europe’shippest music festivals. Novi Sadreflects the new face of Serbia offi-cials are keen to present to theworld.

The city is also host to an infa-mous convicted murderer whosename still inspires fear amongmost locals. Although the presenceof this particular underworld fig-ure is something Serbian officialsare far less keen to promote.

Veselin Vukotić, 53, a boxer-turned-businessman, can some-times be seen at the city’s swanki-er restaurants, accompanied byburly young men clad in leatherjackets and glamorously-attiredyoung women.

Not a bad turn of events forsomeone who, after lengthy extra-dition negotiations with Belgium,had just begun serving a 20-yearprison sentence for the 1997 mur-der of a man in a Montenegrinnightclub.

Vukotić served just eight monthsin Novi Sad’s prison, before beingquietly released in August 2010 on“humanitarian grounds” after suf-fering, officials claim, a stroke andundergoing heart surgery.

While the media has speculatedhe was released for reasons otherthan his ailing health, BIRN canreveal that he has turned super-grass and is sharing sensitiveinformation about Montenegringangsters involved in illegal activ-ities including money laundering,tobacco and drug smuggling.

Several high-level police andjudicial sources have confirmedthat Vukotić is now cooperatingwith Serbian investigators whoare said to be keen to uncover evi-dence that might implicate keyMontenegrin officials as havinglinks to organised crime rings.

Vesko, as Vukotić is known, is aMontenegrin himself who, duringthe 80s and the 90s, had close tieswith crime bosses and leadingunderworld figures there.

‘Willing to Talk’

“Vukotić contacted us before hisrelease from the Belgian jail andtold us that he’ll be dead withindays if they transfer him toMontenegro. Apparently, he hasfallen out with his former part-

ners and offered valuable informa-tion in return,” a high-rankingSerbian justice ministry officialtold BIRN on condition ofanonymity.

“He knows a lot aboutMontenegrin mobsters and he’swilling to talk.”

While refusing to providedetails, the official hinted thatinformation gleaned from Vukotićmay lead to fresh prosecutions andthe possible expansion of chargesagainst Stanko Subotić, aSwitzerland-based businessmanwho was sentenced on October 28to six years in prison for cigarettesmuggling.

Lawyers for Subotić, who deniesany wrongdoing and was tried inabsentia, said they would launchappeal proceedings.

The official went on to explainthat Serbian prosecutors do notintend to put Vukotić on the wit-ness stand as “there are credibilityissues”, but said investigatorswere extracting background infor-mation from him.

In return, the authorities aredoing their best to keep Vukotićboth alive – he is considered to beat risk of assassination byMontenegrin criminals worriedthey will be unmasked – and, itappears, at large.

“We will do what we can to helphim… within the rules of the[legal] procedure, of course,” saysthe official.

Murder on the Dance Floor

Vukotić fled Serbia andMontenegro – then still part of theYugoslav federation – before hecould be tried for the 1997 murderof a sailor, Dusko Bošković, duringan argument on a nightclub dancefloor.

The Yugoslav court heardVukotić shot Bošković because thesailor had spilt his drink over him.Vukotić was subsequently triedand sentenced to 20 years in jail inabsentia.

Vukotić is also the prime sus-pect in the 1990 assassination ofEnver Hadri, an Albanian activist,in Brussels and is wanted for ques-tioning in connection to the mur-der of a known underworld associ-ate at Belgrade’s Nana nightclub,just weeks after the Hadri killing.

When he met his death, the 49-year-old Hadri was chairman ofthe Committee for the Protectionof Albanian Human Rights, anorganisation that collected data onthe oppression of ethnic AlbanianKosovars by the Yugoslav securityforces during the 80s.

Hadri was, however, also a mem-ber of the Kosovo Albanian move-ment Rezistenca Kombëtare eShqiptarëve të Kosovës, a secretorganisation committed to achiev-ing independence from the formerYugoslavia and merging with

neighbouring Albania.He was shot days before he was

scheduled to present his latestreport - detailing the deaths ofdozens of ethnic Albanians at thehands of the Yugoslav police - tothe United Nation’s Human RightsCouncil in New York. The reportwas eventually presented byJoseph DioGuardia, a UnitedStates congressman of Albaniandescent.

Given Brussels, heart of theEuropean Union, is home to threetimes as many diplomats as othercapital cities, the Belgian policemade finding Hadri’s killers a toppriority.

Clues were thin on the ground,however, as most witnesses couldonly recall the assassin’s car, aGolf, and that there were threepeople inside the vehicle.

Still there was a suspect: theYugoslav federal state securityservice known as UDBA, short forUprava Državne Bezbednosti.

The Belgian police then got alucky break; a small-time Serbiangangster named KristijanGolubović was caught attemptinga robbery in his adopted home-town of Düsseldorf, Germany.

In the hope of receiving alighter sentence, Golubovićclaimed he had met the Hadriassassins several days before themurder in a Düsseldorf nightcluband had overhead them discussing“a job” in Brussels.

Kristijan Golubović toldGerman police officers Vukotić,Lakonić and Ašanin were behindthe Hadri murder in Brussels(Photo: Fonet)

In 1992, Golubović’s story wascorroborated by Marion Krueger,the estranged, German wife ofAšanin who, according to Germanpolice records, confirmed her hus-band was part of the plot to killHadri and named Lakonić as theman who drove the Golf andVukotić as the one who pulled thetrigger.

However, the Belgian investiga-tion was again stymied as by theearly 90s, war was already raging

in the region as the formerYugoslavia began to fall apart. Ontop of this, Serbia, under UN-imposed diplomatic and economicsanctions, felt little incentive tohelp Brussels pursue the case.

On February 27, 2008, ten yearsafter Vukotic fled Montenegro,Spanish police approached a manwho had just returned toBarcelona from a weekend in Pariswith his wife. The man had aCroatian passport under the nameof Ludvig Bulić, as well as a dri-ver’s licence issued under thesame name.

The Spaniards had been tippedoff by French colleagues that the

traveller was none other thanVukotić, who was wanted at thistime by both the Belgian and theSerbian authorities, who hadinherited the Bošković case afterMontenegro split from what wasleft of the Yugoslav federation.

The Spanish extradited Vukotićto Belgium but, 18 years afterHadri was assassinated, theauthorities could not find enoughevidence to put him on trial.

“It was a game of cat and mouseand he was the cat,” a frustratedBelgian police source closelyacquainted with the case toldBIRN, on condition of anonymity.“There were dead ends every-where.”

Two years after being sent toBelgium, Vukotić was returned toSerbia in order to serve his 20-yearjail term for the murder of theMontenegrin sailor.

While it is still theoretically pos-sible the Belgians would ask forVukotić’s extradition to Brussels ifnew evidence comes to light, thatis very much “a long shot”, accord-ing to a Belgian judicial sourcewho did not want to be identified.

By Dejan Anastasijevic

The release of a convicted murderer-turned-police informer,who is the prime suspect in the 1990 assassination of EnverHadri, a Kosovo Albanian activist, prompts fears Serbia hasreturned to practices of the past, such as shielding criminalsfrom justice, when it serves Belgrade’s interests. KosovoStruggles with Spike in Drug Addiction

Kosovo Political “Killer” Freed

Kristijan Golubovic told German police officers Vukotic, Lakonic and Asanin were behindthe Hadri murder in Brussels.

Enver Hadri, a campaigner for Kosovo's independence, is believed to have been killed by Vukotic, although he has never faced justice for the murder.

Belgrade Nightclub Murder

A month after the Hadri assassinationanother murder took place, involving thesame three characters, some 1,400 km awayin the heart of the Serbian capital.

On March 24, 1990, the trio – Ašanin,Vukotić and Lakonić – met at Nana, one ofthe very few privately-owned nightclubs atthe time. They were seated in the VIP sec-tion with their girlfriends when, accordingto witnesses, a fight broke out betweenVukotić and Lakonić.

Shots rang out and Lakonić was founddead on the floor. Ašanin turned himself inthe next morning surrendering his weapon,which was later found to be the same calibreas the gun used in Hadri’s assassination.

Ašanin was put on trial for murder inSeptember that year, causing a stir amongSerbians who were not yet accustomed togangland-style murders. The proceedingsprovoked more outrage when MiroslavBižic, a Serbian police detective, found him-self charged with helping Vukotić to slip outof the country immediately after the killing.

When the police did search the apart-ments of Lakonić, Ašanin and Vukotić, theyfound them to be in possession of severalpassports with different names, all issuedby the Yugoslav authorities, according tocourt reports at the time.

Bizic told the court that Vukotić wasworking for UDBA at the time. In the end,however, Ašanin was acquitted of allcharges and Bižic was given a suspendedsentence of around five months. Both werekilled by unidentified gunman, Bižic in 1996and Ašanin in 1998.

An arrest warrant was issued for Vukotićbut he has never been formally questionedover the Nana shooting. He is the only one ofthe four still alive today.

The Nana trial also had serious politicalconsequences. Bižic’s testimony resulted inchanges to the structure of the Yugoslavpolice and secret services, which trans-ferred more power to the Serbian interiorministry.

A centrally-controlled police force wasexactly the tool a young populist leaderneeded to fulfil his political ambitions aftercoming to power in 1989. His name wasSlobodan Milošević and he made full use ofthis new arrangement.

Anger over Vukotić Release

Vukotić’s release has prompted criticismwithin Serbia and drawn fire from theSerbian Helsinki Committee who wrote anopen letter published in January 2011 byVreme magazine demanding his immediateimprisonment or extradition toMontenegro.

One possible explanation as to why theSerbian state might be willing to cut a dealwith Vukotić lies in the stormy relationsbetween Serbia and Montenegro, sincePodgorica was the last republic to split fromthe Yugoslav federation in 2006.

Podgorica’s divorce from Belgrade in 2006was anything but amicable. Since then,Serbia has been keen to portray its tinyneighbour as a mafia state and smugglers’paradise where government-sponsoredcrime bosses supervise drug trafficking andthe import and export of contraband goods.

Serbia’s refusal to extradite Vukotić fur-

ther strained relations between Belgradeand Podgorica which had sank to a new lowin 2008, when Montenegro recognised theindependence of the former Serbianprovince of Kosovo, something VukJeremić, Serbia’s foreign minister,described as “a stab in the back”.

Since then, both countries have made cau-tious moves towards a rapprochement, butrelations remain, in the words of IgorLukšić, the Montenegrin prime minister,“far from ideal”.

During the press conference after his lastvisit to Belgrade in February 2011, Lukšićsaid that Vukotić’s case was discussed at themeeting with Serbian president Boris Tadic,but no agreement was reached.

Another possible explanation is thatVukotić – believed to have provided servicesto the Yugoslav and Serbian intelligenceservices since the mid 80’s – could revealsecrets some in Belgrade are keen to keepquiet.

Once it became public knowledge thatVukotić was no longer behind bars and hadbeen granted a re-trial, Podgorica formallyrequested in January this year his extradi-tion to Montenegro, to serve his sentence forthe 1997 murder of Duško Bošković during aPodgorica bar brawl.

Serbia turned down the request, citingthe terms of his transfer from Belgiumexcluded his extradition to third countries.

Belgrade’s refusal to hand over Vukotićprompted angry responses from Podgorica,with Analitika, the pro-governmentMontenegrin news agency, warning inJanuary 2011: “Vukotić could be used as atrump card in some future monster trialagainst the Montenegrin leadership.”

According to a report published the samemonth by the Montenegrin newspaperVijesti, the European Parliament’s rappor-teur for Serbia, Jelko Kacin, wrote an angryletter to Belgrade demanding an explana-tion for Vukotić’s release.

YMCK

feature 13Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

marketing

Under Milosevic, UDBA stopped using it trained agents and turned to criminals.

UDBA’s State-Sponsored Assassins• The former Yugoslavia’s federal state security service was known as UDBA, an

acronym for its original Serbo-Croat name Uprava Državne Bezbednosti• Following a string of bomb attacks in Belgrade during the 1970s, allegedly orches-

trated by Croatian separatists based abroad, UDBA ordered the assassination ofkey Croatian, Albanian and Serbian political emigrants

• In 1983, Stjepan Djureković, a Croatian nationalist, was killed in Munich by UDBAagent Krunoslav Prateš who was in 2008 sentenced to life imprisonment inGermany

• In 1988, UDBA agent Vinko Sindičić was sentenced to a 15-year jail term inScotland after a failed attempt to kill the Croatian dissident Vinko Štedul. He nowlives in Croatia.

• UDBA, it seems, stopped using its own agents to carry out targeted assassinations,turning instead to professional criminals

• Throughout the 1980s around a dozen similar murders were carried out in France,Germany and Switzerland but in most cases, the killers were never identified

• After the former Yugoslav republic lifted travel restrictions during the 1960s,many criminals moved to western Europe – mostly France, Germany andSwitzerland – and established powerful networks spanning several countries

• Aside from knowing how to obtain, use weapons and evade the police, criminalswere also expendable and, if caught, not easily linked to the Yugoslav authorities

• In return for ‘services to the state’, UDBA helped shield criminals from westernlaw enforcement agencies, provided they refrained from committing crimes backhome.

Kacin was promised a full expla-nation by Božidar Djelić, the thenminister for European integra-tion, the Serbian state newsagency Tanjug reported at thetime. Kacin told BIRN he is yet toreceive an official response.

Vukotić Retrial Granted

Vukotić, still on temporaryrelease, has requested and beengranted a retrial, saying he wasunable to properly defend himselfas he was tried and sentenced inabsentia. The retrial was original-ly scheduled for April, but waspostponed several times. It is nowdue to begin in November.

Meanwhile, it appears Vukotićcannot even be questioned overthe Hadri assassination or theNana nightclub shooting, accord-ing to the terms of the Belgianextradition agreement.

“The agreement states quiteclearly that the person extraditedfor one reason cannot be chargedor questioned for anything else,”says Zdenko Tomanović, Vukotić’slawyer.

“Since he was extradited for theBoškovićmurder, they can try himfor that and only for that… buteven that trial may drag on foryears… I see a lot of technicalsnags in this case,” claimsTomanović.

Vukotić has so far refused todirectly answer any questions con-cerning the charges.

There is some disagreement asto whether the Serbian stateshould be treating Vukotić in thismanner.

“The government should not bedoing business with someone likeVukotić, he should be in prison,”says one top-ranking Serbianpolice officer, again speaking onlyon condition of anonymity.

He claims, however, that thepoliticians have the “upper hand”in the Vukotić case.

The Serbian prosecutor’s officedeclined to comment directly onthe Vukotić proceedings beyondsaying they are “watching theVukotić case closely”.

Snežana Malović, Serbia’s jus-tice minister, would only say thatthey are “following the state’srules and regulations” with regardto Vukotić.

As such, it remains to be seenwhether the information providedby Vukotić will be used to launchfresh prosecutions or even resolveongoing investigations and trialsor as a political tool against theMontenegrin political elite.

Given that Serbian courts casesoften drag on for years – even rela-tively simple murder trials – it isalso unclear for how long Vukotićwill be free to enjoy his exception-ally comfortable life.

Others note most societieswould decline to free a man whoshot dead a night-club goer onimpulse on the grounds that wouldpose too great a threat to everydaycitizens.

There are many unansweredquestions in the Vukotić case, butmost important of all is whetherthe Serbian state will discover thataccepting services from peoplesuch as Vukotićmay well come at aprice that overreaches the bene-fits.

Meanwhile, it seems even in thenew Serbia, one can, with the rightfriends and the right enemies, getaway with murder. Possibly, sever-al times over.

Dejan Anastasijevic is theBrussels correspondent for the

Serbian news agency Tanjug. Thisarticle was produced as part of theBalkan Fellowship for Journalistic

Excellence, an initiative of theRobert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE

Foundation, in cooperation withthe Balkan Investigative Reporting

Network

YMCK

feature14 Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

The city of Novi Sad, where Vukotic is free to roam.

Veselin Vukotic served just eight monthsof a 20-year jail term for murder.

Timeline: TheVukotić AffairFeb 25, 1990: Enver Hadri, a prominent Kosovo Albanian emi-

grant activist is gunned down in Brussels in broad daylight.Three assailants escape undetected.

March 24, 1990: Andrija Lakonić, a Montenegrin boxer with along criminal record, is killed in a shootout in Belgrade’s Nananightclub, a well-known gangster hangout. Witnesses name twosuspects who were seen drinking with Lakonić that night, but arenot sure who fired the shots.

The suspects are also boxers-turned-businessmen: Darko Ašaninand Veselin Vukotić. Ašanin turns himself in and brings in themurder weapon (a gun). Vukotić disappears.

During the subsequent trial, evidence produced in court includesseveral passports issued to Lakonić, Ašanin, and Vukotić, withtheir pictures but false names. The serial numbers show that thepassports were issued by Yugoslav state security service (UDBA)and, at the trial opening, Ašanin claims he’s “an employee of thefederal police”.

Some of the passports carry Belgian stamps and Belgian policename Lakonić, Ašanin, and Vukotić as chief suspects for Hadri’sassassination. Ašanin is acquitted on all charges and the murder ofLakonić is pinned on Vukotić, who is on the run.

1993: Despite being wanted for murder, Vukotić is believed tohave opened a high-end casino known as the Royal in Novi Sad, 80km north of Belgrade. The casino was allegedly frequented bySlobodan Milosevic’s inner circle, including top security officials.

Nov 17, 1997: Vukotić shoots a man, one Duško Bosković, duringa bar brawl in the Montenegrin seaside resort of Pržno. Vukotićescapes, but is subsequently convicted of murder in absentia andsentenced to the maximum penalty of 20 years.

June 1998: Darko Ašanin is assassinated in Belgrade. His murderremains unsolved.

Feb 27, 2008 Vukotić is arrested in Spain, where he’s been livingfor several years with a fake Croatian passport and a false name. Heis then extradited to Belgium, where he is wanted for Hadri’s mur-der.

Dec 18, 2009: After an investigation lasting almost two years,Belgian prosecutors fail to indict Vukotić and agree to return himto Serbia. The Serbian authorities issue him with fresh Serbian cit-izenship and a passport, and he is then extradited to Serbia. Hebegins serving his 20-year sentence in Mitrovica prison near NoviSad.

Dec 30, 2010: Press reports state that Vukotić was arrested in acafé in Novi Sad but released almost immediately. It turns out thathe was quietly released on medical grounds, pending a retrial forthe murder in Montenegro. Rumours start that he may appear as acrown witness in an investigation against top Montenegrin offi-cials suspected of being involved in a drugs and cigarettes smug-gling ring.

The Montenegrin government demands Vukotić’s urgent extra-dition to Montenegro, accusing Serbia of preparing a political trialagainst its leadership. Serbia rejects the extradition request.

April 21, 2011 The Novi Sad Court grants Vukotić’s request for aretrial. The date is yet not set but is expected to begin in November.Vukotić remains at large.

Behind the Black Door Despite the warrant for his arrest issued after the Nana murder,

Veselin Vukoti came back to Serbia in the early 1990s and estab-lished himself as a casino proprietor in Novi Sad.

Casino Royal, situated on the top floor of the Putnik Hotel in the citycentre, flouted Serbian law which did not allow such establishments atthe time. The entrance, which could only be accessed by a stairway sepa-rated from other hotel facilities, had a black iron door with a little win-dow in it; a password was needed to get in.

The clientele was indeed exclusive. During the trial of SlobodanMilošević at The Hague, a former manager of the casino, his identity pro-tected by codename C-48, provided a long list of regular patrons, whichincluded Milosević's top party and security officials, and on one occasion,even Milošević himself. The witness clearly identified Vukotić as theowner of the casino and explained Vukotić's role in the Hadri andLakonićmurders.

One of the Casino Royal regulars was Mile Isakov, then one of the lead-ing opposition figures in Novi Sad. After Milošević’s downfall in Octoberof 2000, Isakov served as vice-premier in the government of ZoranDjinjić. But during the early 90s, he had developed something of a gam-bling problem.

“It was like another world, far away from sanctions and the drudgeryof living in Serbia under sanctions,” Isakov told BIRN. “It was very posh,there were lots of pretty women, and drinks were all free if you played. Iliked that place a lot. It was like a parallel universe.”

Isakov, who has now abandoned both gambling and politics, doesn'trecall ever seeing Milošević in the casino, but he does remember manyother patrons listed by C-48. And he clearly remembers Vukotić: “He wasalways sitting alone, with his dog by his feet, and you could see immedi-ately that he was above all others. There was no question that he calledall the shots.”

The casino was closed in 1997, when Vukotić once again had to leave thecountry after the Bošković shooting in Montenegro. He is now widelybelieved to be the new owner of another establishment: a posh cocktaillounge called PentXouse, on the rooftop of a large department store inNovi Sad.

Or at least that was the talk around town because while there are nodocuments to directly link Vukotić to the PentXouse, most people refer toit as ‘Vesko’s place’.

So, on a scorching August afternoon in 2011, Isakov, the former CasinoRoyal regular, walked into the PentXouse accompanied by a BIRNreporter.

Inside, there were deep leather chairs on the inside, and outside was alarge terrace which offered a breathtaking view of the Novi Sad skyline.The place was almost empty – it was obviously too early for the usualpatronage.

“Does this establishment belong to Mr. Vukotić?” Isakov asked a wiry,middle-aged waiter with a gaunt face and shifty eyes. “Why do you wantto know?” the waiter asked cautiously.

Isakov explained that he was an old acquaintance of Vukotić, and thathe would like to get back in touch with him and introduce him to a jour-nalist friend. “Give me your names and your cell phone numbers, and I'llbe back to you,” the waiter said.

The drinks were served – aged plum brandy in heavy crystal glasses –and, as the sun started to set, the waiter reappeared. “Mr. Vukotić regretsthat he will not be able to come over today,” the waiter said. “The drinksare on the house.”

YMCK

feature 15Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

marketing

The Kosovo SecurityForce has a new com-mander after Sylejman

Selimi handed over to KadriKastrati.

Major General KadriKastrati assumed command ofthe KSF in Prishtina fromLieutenant General SylejmanSelimi.

In a solemn handover onTuesday at the “AdemJashari” military compound,the new commander of thecivilian controlled securityforce inspected the troops.

Kosovo’s President, AtifeteJahjaga, the supreme com-mander of the KSF, said theforce was setting a good stan-dard of international coopera-tion.

“The Kosovo Security Forceis becoming an importantmechanism of cooperation

with international securityand defence structures, in theinterest of our homeland,peace and stability in theregion,” Jahjaga said.

The Kosovo Security Forceis a lightly armed, uniformedforce that is subject to demo-cratic, civilian control. Itsmission is to conduct crisisresponse operations through-out Kosovo and the neighbour-ing countries.

The new Chief of Staff,Major-General Kadri Kastrati,previously served as directorof operations of the force. Hewas appointed on November17, by a decree signed by thePresident.

The KSF’s outgoing com-mander, Lieutenant-GeneralSylejman Selimi, was awardedthe “Goldel Medal forFreedom” for his services.

After taking off his uni-form, Selimi, is expected tojoin the diplomatic corps andbe appointed Kosovo’s nextambassador to Albania.

It is 10.30pm, and the grey-mous-tached man is fidgeting with histie, which is clearly too tight,

awaiting the bus from Prishtina toBelgrade.

His fingers look stained fromchain-smoking and as he climbsaboard the bus for the Serbian capi-tal, he takes a last gasp of smokebefore stubbing out his cigarette.

“We’ll stop for a break at Merdare[on the Serbian border] and I’ll lightup another one there,” he quips to thedriver.

”But it’s these cigarettes thatbrought me here in the first place,”he adds, pointing to his chest whoseproblems have made him a frequentvisitor to hospitals in Belgrade.

The man is one of a growing num-ber of Kosovo Albanians seekingmedical treatment in Serbia – a coun-try they were at war with just overten years ago.

Neither the health ministry inKosovo nor its counterpart in Serbiahas figures on this trend.

But with Kosovo’s health care sys-tem in a shambles there is growingevidence that Kosovars are ignoringold antipathies towards Serbia andseeking treatment there.

Another regular visitor toBelgrade health clinics retired only afew months ago from a company inPrishtina that sold furniture.

He has kidney disease, as well astrouble with his lungs – also fromsmoking, he says.

For several months he has beenreceiving treatment at the ClinicalHospital of Belgrade.

He spent over ten days in springthere. Now, following the conclusionof the treatment, he returns once amonth for a check-up.

“My tobacco addiction hasbrought me to the edge of death but Istill can’t quit,” he sighs.

“I have serious problems with my

kidneys, too, but I’ve survived thattoo,” he adds.

Several clinics in Kosovo put himthrough dialysis but he was nothappy with the standard of care, herecalled.

In Belgrade the doctors have toldhim that he will need a long time intherapy. But now, he says, he feels hishealth is improving.

Kosovo doctors “are limited to per-forming [emergency] intervention,”he maintains. “Kosovo also has doc-tors with potential, but not for diag-nostic work.

“There is simply no functioning[health] system. The system must becreated by the government, not bythe doctors,” he continues, changinghis mobile phone card as the buscrosses into Serbia.

Bashkim Hisari is another citizenof Kosovo who has travelled toBelgrade for medical treatment.

He says he went all the way to theZemun Clinic in Belgrade inJanuary because he didn’t trust thework ethic of doctors at home.

“The doctors in Kosovo just wantmoney, and they drag their heels,”Hisari says.

While he does not doubt theirskills, their counterparts inBelgrade seem to him more experi-enced, and they offer more treatmentoptions.

In spite of the history of dire,often violent relations between Serbsand Albanians, Hisari didn’tencounter any hostility during hismedical treatment in Belgrade.

“I was treated very well and I was

extremely happy during the prepara-tion for surgery and after the sur-gery,” he adds.

He hasn’t encountered any securi-ty issues during his trips either, inspite of the fraught situation on theKosovo-Serbia border where Serbshave put up barricades in recentmonths.

Without exact data on this trend, itis hard to estimate how manyKosovars are now obtaining medicaltreatment in Serbia.

Drago Jovanovic, of the ClinicalHospital of Belgrade, said he knewthat many patients from Kosovo arebeing treated in Serbia, but no statis-tics are available.

Quizzed about the payment sys-tem, he said hospitals usually oper-ate for free on emergency cases.

If Kosovars have health care cardsfrom the Health Fund of Serbia, astate-run medical insurance scheme,they are entitled to the same treat-ment as any other citizen. In thatcase, only a small financial contribu-tion to the costs is needed.

Faik Hoti, head of the KosovoHealth Ministry press office, saysthere is no question of Kosovarsbeing encouraged to hop over theborder for medical treatment.

He knew only of individual casesin which some patients had soughtinformation on how much treatmentwould cost in Serbia in an attempt toconvince officials to send them forhealthcare.

But it was not Ministry of Healthpolicy to send patients for treatmentin Serbia, Hoti insisted.

By Alban Selimi

Kosovars are travelling to Belgrade in search of better healthcare.

Kosovo Security Force in action.

By Fatmir Aliu

Kosovo SecurityForce Gets NewCommander

Kosovars Seek Cures inOld Foe SerbiaKosovo Albanians are increasingly turning a blind eye to politics and history and are travelling to Belgrade for medical treatment.

16

YMCK

Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011 Prishtina Insight

Te Komiteti

Te Komiteti’s large trees and a beautifully garden, whichsurround the small outdoor terrace, give you an impressionof an exclusive place for ordinary people. And this is exactlywhat it is. From brunch to lunch-time snacks and specialevening meals, thisrestaurant offers dishescomprising quality, var-ied ingredients, com-bined to perfection.Alongside one ofPrishtina’s best ‘modernEuropean’ style menus,you’ll also find a goodselection of wine, andgreat sangria and cock-tails .

Te KomitetiQamil Hoxha Street

Prishtina+381 38 24 96 63

Where to pick up Prishtina Insight?Prishtina Insight has teamed up with these excellent venues to offer a limited number of complimentary copies of Kosovo’s onlyEnglish-language newspaper. Grab a copy of the publication and settle down with a drink or a meal to read it.

Hotel PrishtinaHotel Prishtina’s 43 charming

guest rooms and suites are reminis-cent of a small hotel in theEuropean tradition. You'll immedi-ately feel at home in our livingroom, sipping a glass of wine in ourfine restaurant surrounded by a

gallery ofpaintings bylocal artists.

The hoteloffers free, fastwifi internet,complimenta-ry breakfast,c o n f e r e n c eroom, swim-ming pool,sauna andlaundry serv-ice.

Cavallero Mexican Restaurant

You can almost transport yourself to theMexican coast, with soaring palm trees and animmaculate five star resort, while dining atCavallero Mexican Cantina. Mouth-wateringappetizers and savoury main dishes are nicelywashed down with countless cocktail optionsand even imported Mexican beer. Skopje-based‘Los Ritmos’ entertain diners every Fridayand Saturday with their latin beats. For more

information, visittheir facebook page,or contact them.

Cavallero,Located next to the ex-

UNMIK buildingPrishtina

+386 49 619 375Facebook page

Hotel VictoryBut Victory is more than a place to meet and do business. Its doors

are always open for guests to enjoy the tranquility of our guestrooms and lobbies, and the finest cuisine in the region. The onlyhotel in the region where real plants, original art and fine solid fur-niture decorate the space and turn it into a homelike environment.Hotel Victory is established to offer travelers the most complete, com-fortable accommodation available in Kosovo and the region. Our pro-fessional staff will offer guests the highest standard of service and

support, and we will useour resources to greaterlengths to make your stayas complete as possible.

Hotel VictoryMother Teresa

Prishtina, KosovoTel: +381 38 543 277

+381 38 543 267 Email:

info@hotel-victory.comhttp://www.hotel-victo-

ry.com/

Jinglebells

If your soul is affected by the grey sea-son then pay a visit to Jinglebells, whereyou will find all the colours that you’vebeen missing.

Jinglebells is a perfect one-stop-shopfor internationals offering a selection ofbooks in various languages and thequickest supply of international newspa-pers in town. It also offers souvenirs and

gifts, such aslocal handicrafts.

Jinglebells.Bookstore and

more.Ernest Koliqi

12, oppositeEULEX HQ

+386(0)49 741 170

A taste of Napoli in Prishtina.

After ten years of making pizza in Napoli, andonly with love to blame, Fatmir the chefreturned to Prishtina. His pizzas, made in awoodburn stove, are definitely genuine napoli-tanas. For those who consider pizza to be bor-ing, Fatmir has several pastas on offer, also atrue joy for the taste buds. Napoli has an excel-lent selection of red and white wines or, for themore ambitious, one of the region's best Quint's

raki. Napoli makes fordelicious lunch, dinneror even after-theatretime out in the centreof Prishtina.

Pizzeria Napolioff Luan Haradinaj,

opposite Newborn044/409-402402

Hotel AFA

Located in a quiet neighbourhoodjust outside the city centre, HotelAfa can guarantee guests a peacefulnight while being within walkingdistance of all the action. The venuehas won a host of awards for itsexcellent service to customers andoffers a good range of facilities,from an exclusive restaurant andVIP bar to pretty, tranquil garden.Rooms start at 45 euro for a single,and luxury rooms and apartmentsare available. The hotel’s rooms are

well appoint-ed and com-fortable.

15, Rr AliKelmendi,

SunnyHill,

Prishtina+381

38/225 226www. hote-

lafa. com

Paddy O’Brien’s

The staff at Paddy O’Brien’s have a saying:“It’s easy to walk in, but very hard to leave.”

And with its warm atmosphere, fantasticrange of drinks and excellent food, it is easy tosee why.

There have been many attempts to establisha proper Irish pub in Prishtina, but this is theonly one to hit the spot.

From classic coffees to cocktails, via, ofcourse, Guinness, you really wont find it diffi-cult to select the perfect drink.

A mouth-watering menu of Irish specialtiesis also on offer, spanning from all-day break-fasts to Irish stews at night.

Options include shepherd’s pie, bangersand mash, fish ‘n chips, and whopping greatburgers.

Thursday is pubquiz night, but thereis always somethinggoing on at the pub,whether it is sportscreenings or just agood shindig.

Paddy O’Brien’sTringe Smajli

Street, by the IllyriaHotel

Prishtina: 045-420900

Restorant Brasserie Lura

At 450-square-metres Restaurant Lura is asspacious as you get in Prishtina. It’s also sur-rounded by the towering trees of Germia andoffers a pleasant garden where, in the summer,this eatery prepares food al fresco. It’s largemeeting room is also ideal for that private lunchor dinner.

The combined style classical and modern interi-or leaves you with an impression of refined taste.

The newly opened restaurant is alreadyfamous for its Mediterranean specialties, exqui-site seafood and fine selections of Italian,French and Local wines. But that’s not all, formusic lovers, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridaynight dinners are accompanied by jazz, whereason Saturdays local patriots can enjoy live tradi-tional Albanian music.

Lura RestaurantStr. Nazmi Gaffuri • 10 000 Prishtina • +381

(0)38 763 763 ; +386 (0)49 763 763 •www.lurarestaurant.com

info@lurarestaurant.com

Olive Tapas Bar

After many tears runningtapas bars in England andGermany, as well as opening thefirst of its kind in Prishtina,these guys no their trade.Try todelicious tapas and while awayon afternoon on the moorishsangria.Tapas and main coursesinclude rocket salad, mixedcheese, Spanish tortilla, omeletwith vegetables and potatoesand deep fried calamari.

Open Monday to Saturday 7 amuntil 12 pm

Olive Tapas Bar: St.FehmiAgani 48/1

Tel. +381 38 321 132Cell +377 44 620 414

olivetapasbar@gmail.com

CHURCHILL’S PUB

Churchill’s Pub is a placewhere you can associate with itsunique, casual, cosy and friendlyatmosphere where you can enjoyan affordable pub style.... Thatcomfortable atmosphere com-bined with that special music, thegreater range of drinks and thechance to get to play snooker anddart board on the second floor.

You can also enjoy the happyhour wich starts ar 20:00-21:00everynight.

Beers ( Peja and Skopje), GinMix and Vodka Mix for only 0,99Euros.

Str: Johan V. Hahn, Peyton,Prishtine

(behind ProCredit Bank headquarter, close to Music Faculty)

+377 44 728 750

YMCK

17Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

Timeout Contact Prishtina Insight if you would like your event to feature orto advertise your venue. Email marketing@prishtinainsight.com

By Yllka Hoxha in Prishtina

Every day at 10pm, ABC Cinema continues screening the movie “In Time” producedby Andrew Niccol.

Welcome to a world where time has become the ultimate currency. You stop aging at25, but there's a catch: you're genetically engineered to live only one more year, unlessyou can buy your way out of it.

Roles: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser,Olivia Wilde.

From Friday 25.11.2011, ABC Cinema starts screening the movie “The Adventure of– Tintin-3D” Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship led byHaddock's ancestor. But someone else is in search of the ship. Having bought a modelship, the Unicorn, for a pound off a market stall Tintin is initially puzzled that the sin-ister Mr Sakharine was so eager to buy it from him. Sakharine has bribed the crew torevolt against the ship's master, drunken Captain Haddock, but Tintin, Snowy andHaddock escape, arriving in Morocco at the court of a sheikh, who also has a model ofthe Unicorn.

Roles: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig etc.The movie will be screened every day at 18:00, 20:00 and 22:00. For reservations call at 038 243 238 or visit them at www.kinoabc.com

Friday, November 25, 2011

Hamam Jazz Bar

Toni Kitanovski & Oscar Salas.

Hard Rockers Club,

Experience the brain bashing“dubstep” withNecroMackhanoid.

A night with a startingDrum'n'Bass warm up continu-ing with a mix of some of thebest 2011 dubstep live performedby NecroMackhanoid

Gennci’s Caffe organisesMovie Night #2, screening themovie “The Gladiator”

Maximus is a powerful Romangeneral, loved by the people andthe aging Emperor, MarcusAurelius. Before his death, theEmperor chooses Maximus to behis heir over his own son,Commodus, and a power struggleleaves Maximus and his familycondemned to death.

Churchill’s PubArt’s Trio- Flamur Lokaj, Art

Lokaj and Labinot Avdiu willbring that unique atmosphere byperforming live songs of Sting,Whitesnake, Michael Jackson,Eric Clapton and so many others.

They will play Rock and popmusic, unplugged, evergreen andtraditional music. You can alsoenjoy the happy hour whichstarts at 8am every night.

Mango PubFashion Party with Gecjan

Group/ Hekuran Krasniqi &Fama Group

Lots of Models from Albanianand Kosovan fashion magazineswill be present at Mango Pubwhere you will be enjoying themusic of Hekuran Krasniqi andFama Group which will bring awarm atmosphere in these coolautumn days. It’s always Hot inMango.

AndërrAfter the briliant performance

in Prishtina Jazz Festival and thegreat album, OM Quartet aregoing to perform at Andërr. For

those of you who like OM quar-tet, you can buy there album atAndërr and Dit’e Nat’.

For further informations callthem at 044607899.

Peppermint ClubLive music with Fatos Hoxha.

Some music, rakia, kikiriki, loveand happiness.

For reservation contact 044/234-367 or visit their web:www.peppermint-ks.com

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Hamam Jazz BarFusion Night with Astrit

Stafai, guitar, Festim Fanaj, vio-lin and vocal, Adrian Qehaja,keyboard, Patriot Nezir, drums

Churchill’s PubArt’s Trio- Flamur Lokaj, Art

Lokaj and Labinot Avdiu willbring that unique atmosphere byperforming live songs of theSting, Whitesnake, MichaelJackson, Eric Clapton and somany others.

Peppermint ClubLive music with Fatos Hoxha.

Some music, rakia, kikiriki, loveand happiness.

For reservation contact 044/234-367 or visit their web:www.peppermint-ks.com

Saturday & Sunday,November 26 & 27, 2011

BAB ClubGrand opening of BAB Club Address: In front of New Born Join:http://www.facebook.com/gro

ups/BABclub/

Gegë Caffe BarWith a healthy menu: different

types of fresh juice, milkshake,frappe, a lot of coffee choices, alot of tea choices … healthy sand-wiches, healthy desserts, and alot of other drinks… it completesour literally wide menu:) Comeand taste them!

“stay healthy, stay in gegë”The Bar is located next to NLB

bank, the ex “Posh Nosh” in frontof UP Rectory.

Teatri Social - Studio 2Str. Garriballdi n.n Forest Psychedelic TranceFor more details and locations

of the place and the events, visittheir Facebook page (TeatriSocial Studio 2).

Line up :HallucinatedNeighbour (Silent Existence) – 10pm – 12.30;

Silent Existence (promotingNine Spheres to Enlightenment)– 12.30 – 1.45 am;

Sunai (Silent Existence) 1.45am – 3 am;

Live act: Nirmanakayas &Schoiroideairis a.k.a Hada(Chronicle of Mystery Records)

Peppermint ClubArtan Bakija & The BandFor information call: +381 38

552-555; Or visit:www.peppermint-ks.com

Zone ClubAlban HI-DINI from London.

All night long.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Library Dit’e’NatEnver Hoxha - Book Promotion

with the author Blendi Fevziu,from 12 o’clock (noon)

1 Tetori Hall [1st of October Hall], Troja band continues the

series of concerts with the motto“The young Ghettopeans”. Theconcert will be held in 1 Tetorihall in Prishtina, this time organ-ised by a larger team in coopera-tion with Troja. The concert willstart at 8 p.m.

http://www.troja-ks.com/

Saturday, December 3, 2011.Social Theatre – Studio 2.DJ Tijana/BG Modern tech-house sound,

combined with deep and mini-mal, and Tijana’s recognizablecharisma are the hallmark of hisprevious sets. At a competition ofDJs in The Code Club ofSubotica, she came to the finaland took second place. Also, shehad great performances atBelgrade Share festival and NoviSad’s EXIT.

National Theatre ofKosovo

Friday and Saturday,November 25 and 26, at 8 pm

“Ditari i nje gruaje” fromZennel Laci, a Belgian show.

Monday and Tuesday,November 28 and 29, at 8 pm

“Duke pritur Godone” fromSamuel Beckett, directing DritaBegolli.

“Duke pritur Godone”[Waiting for Godot] is an absur-dist play by Samuel Beckett, inwhich two characters, Vladimirand Estragon, wait endlesslyand in vain for someone namedGodot to arrive. Godot'sabsence, as well as numerousother aspects of the play, haveled to many different interpre-tations since the play's pre-miere. It was voted “the mostsignificant English languageplay of the 20th century”.

Wednesday, November 30,at 8 pm

“Dashuria qe vret” ballet,choreography by Ilir Kerni.

Love, sadness, loneliness andhatred – all the feelings thatmake a man’s life, will be per-sonified by Kosovo BalletTroupe under the name “LoveKills”.

Theatre ODA Every Friday at 8 pm in the

new play “Tre Gjermanët eTrashë II” you will understand:“What did Brigel say when heasked for a drink?”; “Why Hansdidn’t let him drink Mojito?”;“How did Gani experience his21st snow?”; “Is Vukashin real-ly Ukshin?”; “Does KFOR-jastill work for KFOR or she justloves him?”; “How did Hekuranboil eggs in the middle of theNorth Pole?”; These and otherevents you can see in the play“Tre Gjermanët e Trashë II”.

“Tre Gjermanët e TrashëII” Writen by: Lirak Çelaj;Producer: Florent Mehmeti;Roles: Naser Rafuna, AdrianMorina, Kushtrim Sheremeti,Lirak Çelaj, Fisnik Ademi, ArdIslami, Arta Selimi, FlorentMehmeti.

They are back again, not inKosovo but in North, not asUNMIK but as Beeeee. Nowwith the new mission. To stopGlobal Warming, to find KorrUpcion and Mimoza.

For any further questions orreservations call at +381 (0)38246 555 or write atoda@teatrioda.com.

DODONA THEATREEvery Thursday, at theatre

Dodona, 7.30pm, stages the play“Çifti I Hapur”, by Italianauthors Dario Fo and FrancaRame, and directed byKushtrim Koliqi.

“What would you do if yourpartner suddenly openedhis/her mind to have inter-course with another person?” Aman proposes to his wife elimi-nating the concept of maritalloyalty and creating an “openrelationship” in their lives. Thewoman, of course, rejects andafter several attempts of sui-cide, she decides to accept herhusband’s offer because in factit’s the only way to remain“married”. The man is happy.He, no longer needs to hide hisgirlfriends and in a way he isreleased from feelings of guilt.Now everything is democraticand open. Everything goes welluntil the day when the womanfinds the love of her life, whichis what her “modern” husbandcannot accept.

Actors include: EdonaReshitaj and Besart Sllamniku,while the costumes and thescene are made by Njomza Luci.Composer: Trimor Dhomi;Choreographer: Bruno Saqipi;Light designer: Skender Latifi;Stage manager: Bedri Maloku,Albert Bekteshi and FadilGashi, Photographer: ArtonHumolli.

For more detailscheck:teatridodona@yahoo.com; besart.sll@gmail.com

SKENA UPThe 9th edition of the festival

SKENA UP is being held fromDecember 5-12 in Prishtina.Every year, The InternationalStudent’s Film and TheatreFestival brings together 40 filmand theatre academies from allaround the world. It is visitedby around 10,000 thousand peo-ple.

With only two weeks to go,they have announced theNational Film CompetitionProgramme. The best nationalfilm will be awarded with 500euro. This symbolic awardshould be used to create anoth-er short film by the same direc-tor.

Here are some of the filmsthat are up for the competition:Family Market, E kuqja, Toka eZotit, Vendi ku vdiq faraoni,Dhurata e Zotit, Baba etc.

For further questions callthem at: +381 38 222 793; +386 49225 206 or e-mail:info@skenaup.com; web:www.skenaup.com

Prishtina Diary

YMCK

Nov 25 - Dec 8, 201118

Inside Prishtina

Last week our reviewer Gingerbread Man extolled thevirtues of the burek from Furra Qerimi.

Prishtina is, however, rammed with good bakeries andsome, it must be said, come with better celebrity endorse-ments than Qerimi on Sunny Hill.

City Bakery must, however, have the most prestigious sealof approval – a letter from Hilary Clinton thanking it for itsexcellent ajvar. In Kosovo, that’s tantamount to a royal decree.

Of course City Bakery, which is located just next to GrandHotel, is better known for its dough-based products.

Owner Hyrije Deshishku prides herself in making top qual-ity traditional baked goods from the mini-factory. The bakeryalso offers specially designed cakes for those tricky childrenbirthdays. Think popular television characters or favouriteanimals.

City Bakery can also cater for business meetings, socialevents and family events, and prides itself on quick and excel-lent service.

City BakeryMother Teresa Str.

No. 41 Prishtinë

Tel: 045 785 785, 044 350 571info@city-bakery.com

http://www.city-bakery.com/

By Florina Hajdini

If It’s Good enoughfor Hillary...

Prishtina mayor announcedin August that his adminis-tration was to press ahead

with the construction of a newcentral square, Ibrahim RugovaSquare, or Independence Squareas it is also known.

“This year we have providedthe funds [for the project], withpart of them transferred from theprevious year, while another partfrom this year have provided.

Construction of new square atthe other end of Mother TeresaBoulevard is also on the cards.

“The main works will be per-formed this year, while in springthere will remain only some finalwork,” he added. “The two siteswill be operational in early 2012."

However this now looks overlyoptimistic as a complaint by oneof the failed bidders had led todelays, and construction has yetto begin with the depths of win-ter fast approaching.

As part of project, a statue ofnational hero Skanderbeu willraised to the equivalent of thethird floor – towering above thearea.

In the central part of thesquare, opposite the institutions,a statue of the first president ofKosovo, Ibrahim Rugova is to beplaced.

The redesign will also includegreen space which is currentlylacking in central Prishtina.

Mabetex, Behgjet Pacolli’s com-pany, had bid for the project, butwas more expensive than theABC-All Zone consortium.

To find out more turn to page 1.

Prishtina’s New CentralSSqquuaarree

YMCK

Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011 19

Inside PrishtinaDouglas J.Cruickshank,Trade Advisor, USAID Business EnablingEnvironment Program in Kosovo

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Following a 40 million eurofacelift, the former IllyriaHotel, now renamed Swiss

Diamond Prishtina, is set to openits doors on December 1.

And with 1,200 metres squaredof luxury spa facilities, open tovisitors, and four bars and restau-rants, as well as an executive club,this city centre venue is not just ofinterest to passing dignitaries andtop businessmen.

The spa, which will also open onDecember 1, offers an indoor

swimming pool, fitness room withstate-of-the art equipment, yogaroom, six massage rooms, threesolariums, a salt sauna, an icecave, steam sauna, two Finnishsaunas, an infrared sauna,Turkish bath, three Jacuzzis andone relaxation room.

And if that’s not enough tomake your head spin, you can fin-ish your work out with a cigarettein the nearby smoking room.

Access to the spa will be limitedto “Executive Members”, whichwill entitle you to complimentarymassages and access to their fit-ness programmes, a 24 hourconcierge service, as well as dis-counts at the restaurants and bars.

The giant presidential suitecomes in at an eye-watering 1350euro a night but ordinary roomsare expected to be much moreaffordable, although prices haveyet to be fixed.

Selim Pacolli, president of theboard at Mabetex and brother ofBehgjet, said he was confident thatPrishtina needed a luxury, five-star hotel.

“Prishtina is enjoying contin-ued fast and robust commercialactivity which is fuelling a strongdemand for high quality hotelbrands.”

“We are very pleased to be open-ing a 5 stars luxury hotel which isopen to both local and internation-al business travellers with thelevel of comfort and serviceexpected in today's business envi-ronment."

As well as huge quantities ofmarble, imported from Italy, thebuilding is constructed with a spe-cial alabaster gypsym which ismixed with natural fibres.

It can hold 200 kg with only 3kgof gypsum. The entire buildingcontains more than 200 tonnes ofthe stuff.

The detailed décor on the wallsand the ceilings were all handmade with the alabaster gypsumand then, one by one, painted tocomplement the colours of thehotel.

What surprised you most about Prishtina?I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh salads, and the fine

quality of fresh fruits and vegetables, and while I don't eat outvery often, I am also pleased by the number of very fine restau-rants. I think organic agriculture may be the reason why thequality of salads, fruits and vegetables is superior to those inWestern Europe and North America.

What's your favourite hangout?My favorite hangout is the office in my residence, where I

watch North American television (especially news and sports)through my sling box technology and the internet. That is mysanctuary from work and the sometimes chaotic nature of thePrishtina traffic.

What is the best thing about Prishtina?The best thing about Prishtina is the wonderful young people

that one meets on a regular basis at work, on the streets, in theuniversities and schools and in leisure activities. I hope thatemployment opportunities will multiply for young people of allethnic backgrounds, as the economy developments. We needmore and better economic and employment opportunities inthis country. That will be the key to stability and quality of lifefor all Kosovars in the future.

What is the most annoying thing about Prishtina?There are two things that are most annoying. The first is the

poor air quality that results from KEK operations, vehicularemissions and the burning of lignite for home heating. Someevenings, the quality of the Prishtina air is abominable - reallyvery dangerous to our health. The second annoying thing is thefact that because of the lack of parking space, vehicles areparked on sidewalks, which means that pedestrians are obligedto walk directly on the streets. This is also an unsafe situationfor the people of this city.

If you were mayor of Prishtina for the day what wouldyou change?

I would introduce measures to reduce traffic congestion inPrishtina; more one-way streets, more parking spaces throughprivate sector investment, and better public transport services.

How many macchiatos do you drink a day?None. I hate milk. And sugar. I make my own very strong

black coffee at home, from fresh ground coffee that I import andprepare personally. (Well, sometimes my friend Sally preparescoffee for me in the mornings).

What's your favourite Albanian word and why?"Oh" in greeting a man (like "Oh, Berati!") or "oih" in greeting

a women (like "oih, Nora!)

What landmark do you use to tell taxi drivers where youlive?

I say Lagja i Universiteit (then my house number) andFakulti Technik. It works.

By Florina Hajdani

Behgjet Pacolli may be acontroversial businessmanand politicians, but he sureknows how to build a top-class hotel. Florina Hajdaniwas given a sneak previewof his new five-star offeringin Prishtina, SwissDiamond.

Swiss Luxury Arrives inPrishtina

Whether you are a memberof Facebook or not, theworld’s most powerful

social networking site is gatheringan extraordinary range of person-al data about you - some claim ille-gally.

I had started my fake Facebookprofile under a pseudonym to helptrack down potential contacts forjournalism investigations, but, inthe end, it was Facebook whichwas more successful in investigat-ing me.

The social networking giant wasable to track down my real life,friends, wife and family memberswith astonishing ease, despite thefact I had never befriended any-one, posted a comment oruploaded a story.

Admittedly I had been sloppy:When signing up as John Smith,the most common English name,like many others, I had also inad-vertently allowed Facebook toaccess my email contacts on one ofmy little used accounts. But itsability to find out about the realme went far beyond anything thatcould be gleaned from those con-tacts.

Over the past two years afteropening the account it has beenobvious that Facebook has beenslowly collected more and moredata on John Smith.

Along the list of “suggestedfriends” for this non-entity I canfind my work colleagues, friendsand family members to whom Ihave never sent an email from theaccount with which I signed up.Even people who I have not con-tacted for a decade are among thelisted.

How does Facebook know this? Iused the online service to requestall data it held on John Smith, andthe answer came back clear: noth-ing, apart from the messages thatFacebook had sent me.

The Fight Back

Beyond what Facebook is will-ing to release to you through theironline function, a host of otherdata is also quietly stored, accord-ing to campaigners.

The Facebook tool allows you toaccess 22 categories, while around35 are believed to be collected.

But Facebook’s extraordinary,and expanding, database of infor-mation is now coming underincreasing scrutiny.

A new group, called Europe vsFacebook, has lodged a series ofcomplaints against the companyin Ireland, where the firm’s EUoffice is registered for tax reasons.

The protesters have argued tothe Irish Data ProtectionCommissioner that Facebook hasbeen illegally collecting data onmembers, and even those whohave never signed up for the socialnetworking site.

Whether you have joined

Facebook or not, the social-net-working site appears to be accu-mulating an extraordinary rangeof data on you.

These so-called “shadow pro-files” are created when existingusers search for people who arenot yet members, and through thecompany’s use of contacts frommember’s email address books,which people often allow Facebookto access.

This is one of 22 complaints cur-rently being assessed by Ireland’sdata commissioner which raisesthe question of whether Facebookhas breached European privacylaws.

Max Schrems, 24, an Austrianlaw student, persuaded Facebookto release the information it hadstored on him over three years. Hewas handed 1,222 pages of data ona CD.

Much of the information hadbeen retained by Facebook eventhough he had deleted it from hisonline profile. This prompted himto start the group, Europe vsFacebook.

“If the post office opened,scanned and analysed every letterthat came through and never delet-ed it, everyone would freak out,”Schrems told The Sunday Times.“That’s exactly what Facebook isdoing with our messages. It is col-lecting masses of data in the back-ground and can even get informa-tion on non-users from theirfriends’ profiles.”

“I’ve read their privacy policybut, after a year investigating, Istill have no clear idea of whatthey use this data for. They need tobe more transparent.”

What does Facebook knowabout you?

Facebook retains every IPaddress from which a user logs onto the site, helping the company toidentify home and work comput-ers and detect potential fraudsters.It can also allow Facebook to trackthe movements of individuals.

It also indefinitely stores mes-sages that have been deleted,friend requests that have beenrejected and contacts who havebeen “defriended”. Invitations toall events are also retained.

Metadata from uploaded photo-graphs provide Facebook with an

exact time, date and latitude andlongitude from when they weretaken. Even deleted photo tags —identifying those pictured — arekept. Again, this allows Facebookto piece together not just the move-ments of those uploading the pho-tos, but also those who are simply,and without their knowledge,being tagged.

Concerns have also been raisedover Facebook’s use of facialrecognition technology, which canautomatically identify people inuploaded photographs — regard-less of whether they wish to

remain anonymous.Facebook, founded by Mark

Zuckerberg and his classmates atHarvard University in 2004, is alsoable to collect information aboutusers’ online activities even whenthey have logged out of theiraccounts.

Files, known as “cookies”,placed on your computer trackyour browsing habits and informa-tion is sent back to Facebook.

The company, however, insiststhat it operates within Irish andEuropean Union data protectionlaw and does not pass on informa-tion to advertisers.

A spokeswoman said non-userscould go to the Facebook site torequest the deletion of any infor-mation about them that the compa-ny might hold.

“We do not create profiles ofthose who have not yet chosen touse Facebook,” she said. “We arecommitted to being transparentabout the data we hold and allFacebook users have the ability todownload their data.”

An Arctic Database

Information gleaned from usersin Kosovo, and from acrossEurope, the Middle East andAfrica, will be stored in a new,giant centre in northern Sweeden.

Facebook is building what itcalls a “green datacentre” to houseits growing archive of personalinformation.

The northern Swedish city ofLulea, just 100km south of theArctic Circle, has been selectedbecause of its access to renewableenergy and the cold climate that iscrucial for keeping the servers cool.

The centre will be the largest ofits kind in Europe will cover 30,000square m – about the size of 11football pitches. It will need to be ifit keeps collecting data at the rateit currently is.

YMCK

Nov 25 - Dec 8, 201120

OpinionIf you would like your NGO to appear in

our Making a Difference feature, pleaseemail info@prishtinainsight.com

ouk

Anyone else want a loan?

By Lawrence Marzouk

Facebook’s Secret Database of You

Facebook wants to swallow up as much information on you as possible.

21Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

Opinion If you would like your NGO to appear in our Making a Differencefeature, please email info@prishtinainsight.com

Dear colleagues, friends, ladies and gentle-man

It is real pleasure to be with you today, notonly because it is first time for me toshare my thoughts with you here but

also because the time is so critical and chal-lenging. I would like to thank Gerry andEFC staff for hard work and support to thedevelopment of philanthropy in Europe,globally and specifically for their support tothe grant makers east forum.

While we all try to push forward, main-tain our engagement and search for betterways to serve grantees aiming to improveand address problems of people, the world isfacing two opposite and contradictorytrends. One trend is of growing needs anddemands from all walks of life and everypart of the world, while the other is that nat-ural resources and capabilities of nationalgovernments to deliver them are decreas-ing.

Like never before we have seen dramaticlack of elementary life resources in Africaand other parts of the world. This is of highconcern especially since the world is notready to respond in a good enough way. It isclear that globalization and a multi-polarworld brought also the serious situation ofa world without strong leadership. This isnot to say that globalization is bad idea butglobalization without global leadership willnot work and we cannot let people be fur-ther marginalized in a world that it isbecoming bigger and smaller at the sametime.

Here at home in Europe, the latest finicalcrisis is continuing to shake the founda-tions of the Eurozone. The public can hearthoughts about the possibility of Eurozonesinking and how this potentially could trig-ger an even bigger crisis and bigger clashesamong EU countries and beyond.Disagreements over intervention in Libya,deferent stands on Afghanistan and otherconflicts, long and difficult EU enlargementpolicies and different positions on climatechange are some of the reasons for real con-cerns - as a Europe with one voice is miss-ing, individual countries are speaking.Individual country leaders are being seento make the decisions. Europe and its peo-ple are not seeing strong leadership comingfrom the EU. This is going to be a missedopportunity as not only Europe but theworld could benefit from European leader-ship.

In times of crisis the tendency of lookinginward and protecting your own is a natu-ral reaction but the fundamental questionis if Europe is our own and how can we dealwith crisis and not deepen the divisionbetween people and nations? The questionalso is if Europe is capable of flipping overthe story and taking advantage of the crisisto further strengthen the interdependencyamong its members and complete the unfin-ished project of making the Union? Willthere be a better time than now to bring allthe countries together to be part of thesame understanding of what Europe isabout? The EU cannot be spectator of itsown failing, we, the foundations, cannot bespectators of EU’s failing neither. What canbe done?

One, philanthropy needs to get involvedmore with EU institutions to get them out oftheir own shell, foundations can help tostart the debate about it, encouraging cur-rent institutions to strengthen their sup-port for continuing to build vibrant civilsociety, mobilize communities and developopportunities for regions,

Two, Philanthropy can help to identifyand support the leadership that has courageto think beyond its own country borders.

Three, Philanthropy should promotediversity, democracy, transparency andhuman rights at community level while atthe same time ensuring that those core val-ues are not to be challenged by politiciansand the country agenda as it is the casewith Switzerland and France.

Four, engage with global governanceinstitutions to connect local civil societywith global civil society to create channelsof communication that go beyond tradition-al dealing with governments. Global gover-nance institutions can learn from civil soci-ety and also can work together to changethe way they work and prevent harm anddestruction. Their funding should be ori-ented toward green economies and supportfor local economic development rather thantraditional client based economies especial-ly on the energy sector.

Events in London a few months ago alsoare strong signals of a quiet and sophisti-cated segregation and lack of social mobil-ity in Europe. The critical role for our foun-dations is to bridge these divides amongnations and individuals, between EU insti-tutions and people of different back-grounds we need to engage seriously on theagenda of making the EU as a union ofequal opportunities for all. Foundationscan bring the EU to towns and cities of allits corners for people to see the benefitsand the genuine engagement of theEuropean vision. We the foundations canbring the EU to these places and we caninvest in the deficit areas EU institutionsare not ready to do yet. It is philanthropyand civil society that can keep alive the dis-cussions about diversity, equality and jus-tice, climate change and especially supportfor groups that are fighting corruption andorganised crime, the cancer of modernsocieties.

Functionality, credibility and effective-ness of the EU is not only important for theEU and its people, it is critical for its role inthe other parts of the world. The EU needsto have its act together and be capable ofdealing and resolving issues on its ownyard before striving for success in otherinternational conflicts. The unresolvedissue of Cyprus, Kosovo- Serbia, Bosnia andHerzegovina and its constitutional changesand Macedonia’s name are biggest tests forEU and its credibility and common securi-ty/defence and foreign policies. There is notgoing to be second chance and there shouldnot be a second chance. This is the chance

where we all, together, can make the EU acredible and effective international player.

Foundations have great advantage andresources to play their role in being part ofsolutions for those problems and also tokeep EU institutions accountable, transpar-ent and responsive to people.

I say that this is the historical opportuni-ty that the geographic and political map ofEurope match. This approach of reachingout to others will help the philanthropicsector interact and coordinate more withother sectors.

What do we need to change the way wework? I believe we the grant makers shouldnot become hostage of relationships withindividuals. Grant making that is based onsupporting individuals we like too muchand for too long is a grant making that frag-ments civil society, empowers the few andeliminates the fresh blood from the sector.Grant makers need to be risk takers, be boldand proactively engage in an attempt totransform the issues and tirelessly helpbuild and support society groups thatexpand their reach, remain open to newideas and people and provide concrete solu-tions to the problems. The nature of grantmaking should be as less diplomatic as pos-sible; there is too much diplomacy andpolitical correctness with other sectors. Itis our duty to be open, inclusive and be flex-ible to new innovative ideas and it will alsohelp us not to be seen as an exclusive club ofpeople with money. Our legitimacy will notbe questioned that way to the extent it isbeing questioned today.

The reputation and credibility of NGOsamong the public is quite low generally.NGOs legitimacy is brought into questionexactly because very often NGOs are servic-es to us and our logos and their own purpos-es of existence. We must change that:donors should work in partnership withNGOs rather than considering them servic-es to their mission. One more thing, we can-not afford to keep entering countries andleaving before the job is done. That is theUN, not philanthropic sector; we should notfollow attractive stories. We must stick withthe issue until we see it through and we haveto be there until the solutions are found.

Media Mobilization

The other question for us today is thesocial media and how to work with them.

The world is being bombarded with infor-mation both by traditional media and socialnetworks. While traditional media issearching for survival they continue tomake the bad news the only news and peo-ple continue to build their apathetic behav-iour on it, while social media is an openmenu and people can pick whatever theywant. However, the generation gap is grow-ing and we need to be aware of that. Whilethe older generations are more inclined tostay with traditional media, new generationis all about the new media. The Arab springit is first result of people mobilising and thetipping point being reached by and throughsocial media. The foundations should askthemselves if this is enough before satisfy-ing ourselves and trying to get credit for it.Can justice be restored, will elections bedemocratic, and will people receive theservices they need, will social mobilityachieved through Facebook and Twitter?Foundations can play critical role by push-ing beyond that and supporting mecha-nisms of post change. The triangle of thinktanks, grassroots and investigative and

accountability networks and organizationsare key to functional democracies and cred-ible civil society. Civil society cannot bebuilt around chairs and computers; it needsto continue in every part of society. We haveseen and learned in the last 20 years inEurope how important it is to have addi-tional capacities for policies, watchdogsand mobilizers; education programmes andalso real investigative journalist capacitiesat all levels. We should do our best to playour role and share these successes and evenmore importantly the failures with EUinstitutions with our neighbours: Tunisia,Egypt, Libya and the rest. Change does notnecessary mean good, change does not nec-essary mean better; it is a living processthat requires constant mobilization of citi-zens.

Philanthropy can be the back bone ofcivic activism and a bridge of expertise andcapacities to the people of the Middle Eastand North Africa. Our sector knows thatthe people of the Arab countries need helpand the extended hand of partners whotreat them with respect and dignity. Theydo not need patronizing and exploitativeteams to extend their suffering in a sophis-ticated way.

I will conclude by repeating that our phil-anthropic sector is privileged to haveresources and capacities to play its role inmaking the EU, and help build vibrant civilsociety that will ensure freedom, trans-parency and accountability. The other wayto conclude is by saying that I am confidentthat the world is smarter and more educat-ed, that we do not need another war in theworld for the economic cycle to start fromthe beginning, or for all of us to wake up toolate.

Haki Abazi is the program director for theRockefeller Brothers Fund,

Western Balkans. This speech was deliveredto the European Foundation

Center on November 7.

Philanthropy Can Bring Europe TogetherIn a speech to the European Foundation Center, Haki Abazi, Western Balkans Director for Rockefeller Brothers Fund, outlined his vision of how philan-thropy can shape the continent for the better.

By Haki Abazi

Haki Abazi, Western Balkans Director for RBF

Grant makers need to be risk takers,be bold and proactively engage in anattempt to transform the issues andtirelessly help build and supportsociety groups that expand theirreach, remain open to new ideasand people and provide concretesolutions to the problems.

Community Focus22 Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

YMCK

Kosovo’s nascent philanthropic cul-ture will be honoured at the FIDESaward ceremony on December 1.

For the third time, the Forum for CivicInitiatives, FIQ, supported by RockefellerBrothers Fund, will honour those in busi-ness who have actively participated inimproving community life.

FIDES is the first award of its kind inKosovo – a public expression of gratitudeto the media and businesses, which haveproved their commitment to enhancingthe quality of life in Kosovo.

Nita Luzha, programme manager atFIQ, said that the award makes business-es compete to show to their communitythat they care for its wellbeing, not onlyprofit.

“We believe that this award, the first ofits kind in Kosovo, which will be given forthe third time, will serve as a referencepoint for future investments for a betterlife in Kosovo,” she said.

“The goal of this prestigious award isto make public the public companies,enterprises and individuals which havesupported projects and have contributedfinancially to the common good of thepeople of Kosovo.”

She added that the award also providedthe opportunity to associations and NGOsto express their thanks to donors by nom-inating them.

“The award will enable the winners toenjoy a wide public support for projectsthey have supported with such nobility,”she said. “FIDES award and ceremony isan ideal opportunity to promote genuinepartnership and cooperation between thebusiness sector, civic initiatives, NGOsand individuals.”

Categories of the award for this yearare:

• FIDES Award for contribution at thenational level. This will be given to thecompany which carefully and systemati-cally supported activities and projects ofcommon interest. This company has anexisting strategy of investing in the com-mon good. Philanthropic direction of thecompany may serve as a successful modeland inspiration for strategic investmentsin the community.

• Fides Award for contribution to thelocal community where the companyoperates. This will be given to the compa-ny which is known for having providedassistance in solving problems oraddressing the needs of the community,city, or region in which it operates. Inaddition, the company is aware of the

importance of small initiatives and devel-opment of local marginalised groups,where the company tries to help and reac-tivate such groups. The award is given toencourage and invite others to makeinvestments and return them exactly tothe location of investments, in whichthey are and where they mainly operate.

• Fides Award for individual contribu-tion – from the Diaspora. This will begiven to the person who consistently sup-ported the actions of non-profit organisa-tions that are effectively engaged andproductive in solving community prob-lems. The award is given to express pub-lic gratitude to him /her for their contri-bution and encourage others to followthis path.

After a full evaluation of all applica-tions, the decision on the winners will betaken by an independent selection com-mittee. And the award ceremony will beheld on December 1, 2011 at the Square 21.

For more details, contact directly theFIQ office, Str. Rexhep Mala 7 / A,Prishtina, +381 38 248 677, info@fiq-fci.orgor www.fiq-fci.org

Fostering Philanthropy in KosovoPhilanthropy goes hand in hand with big business in the United States.An award, now in its third year, is trying to recreate that culture inKosovo.

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network is to hold a tele-vised gala event to raise funds for children in Kosovo. .Life in Kosovo show will switch from its usually hard-

questioning and lively debating to fundraising for the MotherTeresa Association, based in Munich.

The charity has provided funds in the fight against infantheart disease and helped the reconstruction of the children clin-ical department at the Universal Clinical Centre of Kosovo.

Next week, Mother Teresa is organising the ninth consecutivegala dinner aimed at fundraising for the provision of out-of-country treatment for children from Kosovo in specialisedEuropean hospitals.

Part of the funds will also be allocated to improve the chil-dren’s ward in the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo.

But this year the event has been organised in cooperation withBIRN’s Life in Kosovo show, and will be broadcast live on theprogramme’s regular slot on the Radio Television of Kosovo,RTK, on Thursday, December 1, 2011.

The gala night is exclusively to raise money. Seats will be avail-able on the night at prices ranging from 100 euro to 1000 euro.

But you don’t need to be in the room to contribute – a call-cen-tre staffed by VIPs will allow people from all around the world todonate. Call on the night +381 (0)38 277, or send an SMS –by writ-ing ‘Zemer’ and sending it in 55999 and you will donate 1 euro.

The event will also include musical and comedy performancefrom renowned artists such as Ermonela Jaho, Rame Lahaj,Flaka Goranci, Riad Ymeri, Eda Zari, Dafina Krasniqi, KosovoPhilharmonic and RTK Big Band, and conductors DesarSylejmani and Valton Beqiri. Guests will also be able to bid forwork from the most famous Kosovar contemporary artist or

even dinner with one of the country's sexiest pop stars. The event takes place at the Beethoven Hall, in Hotel Emerald,

Prishtina, on December 1, 2011, from 7.30 pm.Mother Teresa Association also welcomes your donations via

bank transfers: Mutter Teresa Deutschland; Accont number:1401000000892579, Banka Ekonomike e Kosovës, with the descrip-tion ‘Fëmijët e Kosovës’ [Kosovo’s children].

For more information visit www.mteresa.org

BIRN Helps Raise Funds forKosovo’s Children

Naser’s bike is red. And it’s green too – but notin the way you might think. Naser won’t beusing his bike as an alternative to his gas-

guzzling private car, because Naser doesn’t have acar. In fact Naser doesn’t really have a house – helives with his wife and son in a one-room hut madeof branches, plastic sheeting and corrugated iron.It’s quite tricky to make a hut from such materialsand keep it watertight and when I call Naser heexplains that he’s busy fixing the plastic becausethe rain came in overnight. But he assures me he’llbe on time for our meeting because he really – real-ly – needs that bike.

So Naser and I meet and buy him the bike whichwill turn a little corner of Prishtina green. Naser isthe first lucky collaborator on a scheme initiated bya Prishtina Insight reader, who learned from thiscolumn a month ago about my experiences withAgron and his wheelbarrow scavenging throughthe bins and the byways of the city to collect plasticbottles to be sold on to a recycling company.

When she read about the way Agron and his col-leagues work, the KEK employee got in touch tosuggest that their Prishtina office could start sepa-rating the rubbish generated by staff. On everyfloor of the KEK building they set up bins specifi-cally for recyclable waste – aluminium cans andplastic bottles. And when the first fifteen kilogramsof recyclables were bagged up, they invited Naserto come and collect it.

Naser lives in the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptianneighbourbood 28 in Fushe Kosove so the journeyin to Prishtina, hitching a lift on a friend’s tractor,took time, and ultimately money. Which is whywe’ve bought Naser a bike.

The next week he went to KEK and collectedanother eleven kilograms of recyclable rubbish, sav-ing ten plump binbags from going to landfill and sav-ing himself the time and health hazards of scaveng-ing through dumpsters to find such resellable scrap.

With a customized trailer attached to the back ofthe bike, Naser can collect more – from KEK butalso from his usual ‘plastic pastures’. “There’smore rubbish that I can sell on in Prishtina than inFushe Kosove,” he explains. “But it’s only with abike that I can reach it.”

The amounts of money that Naser can makefrom selling on what he collects are tiny – a feweuros for each cache – but he lectures me on thetheme of “many a mickle makes a muckle”, justlike my grandmother. “You have to work, work,work. And you earn a mouthful of bread with eachload that you sell. And if you have some excess, youkeep it to buy a tractor. If I had a tractor I couldmake more money than I need just to keep alive andit wouldn’t be long before I could buy a house. Ahouse is all I ask from Allah for this life.”

The project (in my head I call it the ‘Naser proj-ect’, enjoying the way it sounds like getting a maninto space. However, this is not rocket science) is inits early phases, but already we’ve found aPrishtina restaurant who want to come to the samearrangement with Naser – or with Agron or withany one of the heads of families in Fushe Kosovethat we know who ensure food on their table by col-lecting and selling on recyclable waste.

There is an almost limitless supply of potentialpartners in Fushe Kosove, and there should be analmost limitless supply of organizations or business-es in Prishtina who’d be willing to pair up with them.

If your organization is interested then please getin touch!

Elizabeth Gowing is a founder of The IdeasPartnership, a Kosovan NGO working on education-

al, cultural and environmental projects. She is alsothe author of the recently-published, Travels in

Blood and Honey; becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo.She can be reached at theideaspartner-

ship@gmail.com

By Elizabeth Gowing

Ecosovo

The GreenBike

By Shengjyl Osmani

By Shengjyl Osmani

YMCK

23Nov 25 - Dec 8, 2011

Classified Contact Prishtina Insight if you would like to advertise Email marketing@prishtinainsight.com

Embassiesand LiaisonOffices inPrishtina

AmericanAddress: "Nazim Hikmet" no. 30Arbëria/Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 549 516AustrianAddress: "Ahmet Krasniqi" no. 22Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 249 284BelgianAddress: "Taslixhe" I, 23 A 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 734 734BritishAddress: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 6Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 254 700Bulgarian

Address: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 12Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 038 245 540Dutch

Address:" Xhemal Berisha" no. 12Velania, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 224 61FinnishStr. Perandori Justinian No. 19Pejton10 000 Prishtina Phone: +386 43 737 000 FrenchAddress: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 67Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 22 45 88 00GreekAddress: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 68Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 243 013GermanAdress: "Azem Jashanica" no. 17Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 254 500ItalianAddress: "Azem Jashanica" no.5 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 244 925JapaneseAddress: "Rexhep Malaj" no. 4310000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 249 995LuxemburgAddress: "Metush Krasniqi" no. 14Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 226 787MalaysianAddress: "Bedri Shala" no. 48 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 243 467NorwegianAddress: "Sejdi Kryeziu" no. 6 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 232 111 00Saudia ArabianAddress: Dardania SU 7, building 2, #110000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 549 203SlovenianAddress: "Anton Ceta" no. 610000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 244 886 SwedishStr. Perandori Justinian No. 19Pejton10 000 Prishtina Phone: +381 38 24 57 95SwissAddress: "Adrian Krasniqi" no. 1110000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 248 088 TurkishAddress: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 59Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 PrishtinaPhone: +381 (0) 38 226 044

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