Bomb threat in Parliament, prosecutor: It was a lie

A bomb threat on Saturday at the Kosovo Assembly - which forced the evacuation of deputies and the postponement of the constitutive session until the evening - was false, the prosecutor who investigated the case announced.

Speaking to reporters near the Parliament building, Prosecutor Zejnullah Gashi said that the threat came from a man over the phone and that a cyber investigation into this is underway.

"The threat was false and so far there is nothing worth mentioning about the results at the scene," he said.

Zejnullahu added that the threat was made by an "anonymous person, with a male voice in English and with an accent that we believe is from an unfriendly country."

Earlier, Kosovo Police confirmed to Radio Free Europe that in the early hours of today, they had received information "about a threat with an explosive device at the RKS state facility."

After receiving the threat, security authorities quickly removed MPs, the media and all those present from the building and courtyard of the Parliament, as they were preparing to hold the next continuation of the constitutive session.

The prosecution and police investigators arrived at the scene, who, together with the relevant bomb disposal units and experts, conducted checks.

Earlier, Arben Loshi, deputy secretary general of the Assembly, said that the police requested the evacuation of everyone from the building and courtyard of the Assembly because "a person made a phone call in English threatening that a bomb placed inside the Assembly building would explode within 10 minutes."

He said that, following the bomb threat, the session, which was supposed to start at 11:00, will be held tonight at 20:00.

Vetëvendosje Movement MP Glauk Konjufca said that this was a "clear threat" as he left the Parliament building on Saturday morning.

Asked how this threat came, Konjufca said that "as far as I know, it was only through the phone call."

Meanwhile, television footage showed the arrival of a number of Kosovo Special Unit officers at the Parliament building.

Officers were seen checking vehicles parked in the Parliament courtyard with dogs.

“They gave us instructions to get out [of the building], because there is a possible threat. We don’t know what is happening and they asked us to get out. The police told us about security issues,” said Abelard Tahiri, a member of parliament for the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

Vlora Çitaku, a PDK MP, said that security asked them to leave the Parliament building, without providing any explanations.

"Apparently there was a threat of an attack or something similar. We don't have any exact information, they just told us to leave," Çitaku said.

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo MP Time Kadrijaj said that she and other MPs from this party were entering the hall to participate in the session when they were asked to leave the Parliament building.

"We have no information. We were in the parliamentary group office preparing to go to the session, but they told us to go outside because there was a threat," she said.

Deputies gathered today to continue the constitutive session of the Assembly, in their 42nd attempt to convene the Assembly as of April 15.

Four months after the February 9 elections, Kosovo continues to be without new institutions, while the 30-day constitutional deadline for the constitution of the Assembly is approaching.

The Constitutional Court issued a ruling on June 26th that obliges MPs to constitute the Assembly within 30 days.

The session called to elect the Speaker of the Assembly and continue with the other steps of the constitution is failing, due to the lack of agreement between political parties regarding the formation of a commission for secret balloting for the candidate for Speaker of the Assembly, Albulena Haxhiu.

For a long time, the largest parties have opposed Vetëvendosje's proposal that Haxhiu, the acting Minister of Justice, be elected as the head of the Assembly.

They have described Haxhiu as a "divisive figure" and have asked Vetëvendosje, as the winner of the elections, to come up with a different name.

Despite this, Vetëvendosje has not given up, saying that proposing the name of the mayor is the exclusive right of the election winner and that Haxhiu is a deserving candidate./ REL