ICTY decided to allow Haradinaj to participate in politics while awaiting trial. He was previously restricted from giving public statements or participate in the leadership of his political party (AAK - Alliance for the Future of Kosovo). The chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, immediately protested the ICTY decision to allow Haradinaj to participate in politics while awaiting trial and ICTY temporarily reversed the decision. Should the decision be reinstated, Haradinaj would be allowed to be involved in the political process and make public statements under the supervision of UNMIK. The Hague court gave UNMIK the task of determining if Haradinaj's involvement was beneficial and granted the responsibility of allowing or refusing his activities on a case-by-case basis
This decision comes at an interesting time because the Kosovo parliament (at least the Albanian part) has started working on a draft for independence. Aside from this, there is a group in Kosovo that have stated that unless Kosovo is granted independence by tomorrow (15-October) that they will kill nine innocent UNMIK civilians. Now that leads to another interesting occurrence...today we received notice that our movement is restricted in certain regions during the nighttime and then another announcement this afternoon that we can request a security escort to our residences. Coincidence???
In other news, a Turkish politician was killed in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday. There isn't much information right now but if I find out more, I'll update :) Also a Serbian special police member, Dejan Demirovic, was extradited from Canada to Serbia to face war crimes charges. He is charged with the murders of 14 Albanian civilians near Podujevo in 1999. He has been living in Ontario for the past four years but will now stand trial in Serbia.
Winter is on its way. Every one is getting ready with firewood and pulling the dustcovers off their heaters. The temperature has dropped down into the mid-teens Celsius (55-60�F) and this morning it started raining. I've ordered my five meters of firewood, discovering that I paid about 100E more than I should have last year! I'll probably be working on stacking it behind the house this weekend if anyone wants to help *hehe*
