UPDATE: Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci Condemns Attacks on Kosovo 2.0 and LGBT

 

According to Zeri Info, a Kosovo news portal, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has issued a statement condemning the attacks on Kosovo 2.0 that occurred on December 14th.  This statement is now currently reflected on the official Prime Minister’s news section web page.

In the last paragraph of Thaci’s official statement he states: “The Government of the Republic of Kosovo demands law and order institutions to find the authors of these violent attacks and put them in front of justice.”

Thaci waited until today to address the violent attack on Kosovo 2.0, a magazine and subsequent attacks on Libertas and Qesh, local gay organizations, who were attacked and beaten on Sunday night.

Thaci has now emerged as one of the first heads of government in the Western Balkans to condemn anti-LGBT violence in the wake of an attack with this statement:  “…ensure that every citizen of the Republic of Kosovo has the right to freedom of expression, and also ensure that no citizen is discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.”

According to the Zeri Info report, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci condemned the attacks of some extremist groups on the evening of Friday’s launch of the publication of the newspaper Kosovo 2.0, calling it and “endanger[ment of] the public order and the rights of expression and freedom of movement and freedom of the media”.

Thaci statement:

The Government of the Republic of Kosovo is committed to respect human rights and freedoms, political, and religious, respect and protect all constitutional categories of discrimination as a legal obligation and the principal direction of all institutions and political spectrum that supports the agenda European integration. Government, as the Minister requires the institutions of law and order to find the perpetrators of these violent attacks be brought to justice.”

Later this morning the Kosovo Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedom issued a statement calling the “use of violence unacceptable and reprehensible”. The Council also stated that “ultimately perception of morality is a matter of the individual and the individual has not right to impose nor exercise violence in the name of protecting those values”.

It remains to be seen which Kosovo government agencies will effectively react to these events.  The Kosovo police forces and the Ministeries of Interior and Justice have investigatory and prosecution authorities that merit implementation.  Additionally, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, as well as the UN have human rights monitoring mandates. Currently, Kosovo is undertaking legal reforms consistent with the norms and laws of the  European Union.  The government’s Ministry of European Integration was the first official authority to issue a statement of condemnation.