TIRANA, June 11 – The Prishtina Basic Court approved on Friday a request from the Special Prosecution to impose a one-month detention on two people suspected of preparing terrorist acts against the peacekeeping KFOR NATO forces and in citizen populated areas in Kosovo, Belgium and France.
The Basic Court decision states “there is grounded suspicion that on 02.06.2018, the defendant G.SH. intentionally called on the defendant E.H. to prepare terrorist acts in Kosovo, by instructing they commit suicide attacks with vehicle explosive materials against KFOR members in Kosovo and other citizen areas and planning the supply with firearms and other explosive materials with the purpose of carrying out the terrorist act.”
According to the court, the defendant G.SH., who is also a Belgian citizen, is in addition suspected to have deliberately planned to carry out terrorist acts in citizen populated areas in Belgium and France during the entire month of May and until his arrest on Sunday, June 6.
“Defendant E.H. during May and until 02.06.2018 and onward, in cooperation with defendant G.SH., has been involved in the incriminated actions of planning to carry out suicide attacks with vehicle explosive materials against KFOR forces in Kosovo, as well as other populated areas, and supplying oneself with firearms and explosives to carry out the terrorist act.”
Starting from mid-2012, Kosovo has been facing an increasing rate of youth radicalization, with a big part of it becoming involved in the Middle East conflict.
According to official Kosovo state data, approximately 300 Kosovo citizens have joined and fought with the Al-Nusra Front and ISIS since 2012, mainly in Syria. More than fifty people among those 300 died in conflict, while 130 have returned to Kosovo.
“In proportion to its population of 1.8 million people, Kosovo is probably the most important source of jihadists in Syria and Iraq,” a 2015 report from the US Military Academy School stated.
Eight Islamists were sentenced by a Kosovo court during May with ten years of imprisonment for preparing an attack against the Israeli football team and fans during the 2016 Albania versus Israel match.
Most of them are Kosovo Albanians, while one is Albanian from Macedonia. Kosovo media reported they’d also planned to carry out terrorist acts against Kosovo leaders and diplomats.
