News: Limaj Case Strains Political and Diplomatic Ties May 21 - June 3, 2010 Issue No. 40 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 NEWS Demolition Threat to Prishtina Airport Splashes 30,000 Euro on Puff Piece Prishtina’s Ottoman Heritage > page 4 Prishtina Insight can reveal that one of the Kosovo capital’s last historic homes was removed from the list of protected buildings and was to be knocked down by the end of the month – before the intervention of the Minister of Culture yesterday By Petrit Collaku ast-minute protests by conservationists and Lintervention by this newspaper appear to have NEWS saved one of Prishtina’s few remaining Ottoman-era town EU Criticises houses from demolition. Kosovo’s Ministry of Culture Albania Over War had removed the so-called Hyniler House, located in the Old Crimes Probe Town, from the list of protected buildings, allowing the site to be > page 2 redeveloped. The Hyniler family, the owners CITY of the building, which is one of the few surviving Ottoman kon- World Gathers in aks in the capital, told Prishtina Insight that they hoped the build- Mitrovica for Cities ing would be knocked down by the end of the month. Conference However, following our inter- vention and other protests, > page 6 including a Facebook campaign which attracted 1,500 members, FOOD & DRINK the ministry sent a team of experts to the home yesterday. Green Villa: Lush And as Prishtina Insight went to press, the recently appointed Surroundings, culture minister, Lutfi Haziri, issued a ruling overturning the Rushed Food The Hyniler House in Prishtina’s Old Town has been under threat of demolition decisions of his predecessors to remove the building from the pro- monuments, including those on signed by the then Permanent decision. > page 10 tected list. the list and others currently not Secretary of the Ministry of The family said they had The case has raised fears about listed. Culture Mon Zhubi. reached an agreement with devel- the future of Prishtina’s remain- The Hyniler House, built in the The owner of the house, Minir opers to demolish the building FEATURE ing heritage and the Ministry of late 19th Century, was placed Hyniler, said the family had and erect a block of flats. Culture’s commitment to main- under a protection order in 1967. obtained two documents that The news has shocked conser- taining historic buildings. But Prishtina Insight has seen a gave them permission to knock it vationists in Prishtina who have School Conservation experts told document issued by the Ministry down, approved by two former called for the home to be put back Textbooks Prishtina Insight that the Hyniler of Culture, dated 2007, which says culture ministers, Astrit on the list of protected monu- house is just one of many threat- the house has been removed from Haraqija and Valton Beqiri. ments. Fail Accuracy ened buildings in the city and the “register of cultural monu- Prishtina Insight was able to con- called for greater protection of ments”. The document was firm that both men issued such a continues page 8-9 Test Where the Streets Have Stalled Reforms Delay > page 7 Many Names Kosovo Donations Prishtina’s multiple street name Kosovo’s government has said it expects NGO FOCUS changes are already a postman’s night- to receive the full 1.2 billion euro, pledged mare. by international donors in July 2008. But Ideas Partnership: But last week the situation became even economic experts warn that 150 million More than Just a more confused with the arrival of a new euro promised by the European Union, as brand of guerilla street naming in the cap- well as other funds, could be at risk Second Thought ital... because ... city page 6 business page 5 > page 14 Y M is supported by: C K 2 May 21 - June 3, 2010 EU Mission Criticises Albania Over War Crimes Probe news EULEX says Tirana has not responded to requests for help in investigating claims about KLA-run detention camps in Albania in 1999 pending possible indictment. Philip Alston, a law professor By Altin Raxhimi who is the special rapporteur of which is the second EULEX inves- the UN Commission on Human tigation for which they have Rights on Extrajudicial, Summary, requested assistance from the he European Union rule-of- or Arbitrary Executions - and who Albanian authorities. law mission in Kosovo, In her 2008 memoir, Carla del TEULEX, says its requests for urged Albania to cooperate with Albania to cooperate over alleged international investigating bodies Ponte, former chief prosecutor of war crimes that took place in last February - said on May 12 that the International Tribunal for Albania in 1999 have fallen on deaf the Geci arrest was important. Crimes in Former Yugoslavia, ears. “It is a significant step forward ICTY, says that that the KLA might EULEX says it has at least twice in efforts to obtain the truth have kidnapped several hundred asked Albania’s Minister of around allegations that war crimes Serb civilians in Kosovo in 1999 Justice to assist investigators over were committed in Albania in and taken them to northern two allegations. KLA-run detention facilities,” he Albania, some of whom were sent These concern the alleged deten- told Prishtina Insight. to Burrel and had their organs tion of Kosovo Albanian and Roma harvested. “Albania has been very reluctant The prison allegedly used by the KLA in Kukes, Albania civilians by the Kosovo Liberation to facilitate any recent investiga- Raatikainen has said he is skep- Army, KLA, in bases inside tions on its territory and during tical of the allegations concerning Albanian army barracks in Albania in 1999, and separate alle- my February 2010 mission to the KLA organ trafficking of captured Cahan. to the Kosovo border and deeper gations that the KLA detained and country the government was still Serbs: “Based on the intelligence I An investigation by BIRN last inside Albania while maintaining killed Serbs in its camps in insisting that there were no foun- have it is difficult to believe that it year concluded that up to two support offices and bases in the Albania, trafficking their organs. dations to [any of] these allega- happened.” But he added that the dozen people were detained in the capital Tirana and near the main “We have been seeking coopera- tions,” he added. case could not be considered KLA base in Kukes of whom as Albanian port of Durres. tion from the Albanian authorities “Geci’s arrest, the first related to closed until a proper investigation many as 18 appear to have disap- for some time,” said Matti war crimes in Albania, makes had proved nothing of the sort had peared, possibly killed. The KLA then tried to fight its way from Albania into Kosovo Raatikainen, chief of war crimes clear the need for the government happened. The detainees were all Kosovo through two corridors, one in investigations with EULEX, of Albania to follow through on its Tirana, meanwhile, says it is not Albanians, apart from a few Koshare, in the district of Tropoja adding that the mission had not recent commitment to cooperate aware of having received any Roma, mostly suspected by the on Albania’s eastern border with received an answer. fully and openly with all interna- demands from EULEX to cooper- KLA of collaborating with the Kosovo, during the early stages of EULEX still maintains responsi- tional investigators, including ate in investigating either of the Serbian regime. However, one the NATO bombing, and, to its bility for war crimes investiga- EULEX, the Serbian war-crimes allegations about KLA-run camps source from the former KLA west, on the mount Pashtrik, in tions, such responsibilities having prosecutor, and the Council of in Albania. detention facility in Kukes told the region of Has, towards the end not been transferred to the Kosovo Europe.” “I have not heard of such Prishtina Insight last year he of the war. government. Geci left Kosovo for Albania requests,” Arben Brace, head of heard detainees shouting in On May 12, Kosovo police work- after being injured in skirmishes the justice ministry’s foreign rela- Serbian, a language the source The KLA bases in Kukes, just east of Pashtrik, and at Cahan, at ing for EULEX raided the Kosovo between the KLA and Serbian tions, told Prishtina Insight. said he was able to identify. the foot of Mt Pashtrik, where the home of one man that the EU mis- forces in Kosovo in 1998 and then Foreign Ministry spokesman Ralf Spiro Butka, another retired makeshift jails were alleged to sion suspects of involvement in served as KLA intelligence chief Gjoni said neither Justice Albanian army officer formerly have operated, served mainly as these alleged crimes. in Albania until the end of the Minister Bujar Nishani nor attached to the KLA, told planning and logistics centre for Xhemshit Krasniqi, a former war, according to Dilaver Goxhaj, Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta Prishtina Insight he knew of two the KLA operation in Pashtrik. regional KLA commander, was not a retired Albanian army officer knew of the requests. Serbian soldiers seized in at home during the raid. His attached to the KLA during the Gjoni said Al Koshare, on the other side of the Allegations that a detention bania was willing facility was also attached to the whereabouts are unknown, though conflict. to cooperate with its internation- border, who were brought to the KLA base in Cahan surfaced in he is reported to be in Albania. Geci’s lawyers told Kosovo al partners on judicial matters, base. the Kosovo press several years A week earlier, on May 5, under media that the accusations being including EULEX.