Scrutiny That Stuck: Journalism Forces Berlin’s Hand on Rohde
After relentless scrutiny by The Gunpowder Chronicles, Ambassador Jörn Rohde exits Kosovo, Berlin calls it “routine,” but the record shows dismissal for breaches of diplomacy and democracy.
Ambassador Jorn Rohde is gone1. Berlin will dress his exit in the language of routine rotations, farewell receptions2, and diplomatic courtesy.
But the record is clear: his dismissal follows the scrutiny that The Gunpowder Chronicles pursued relentlessly for months, exposing a tenure that stands as an embarrassment to Germany, a betrayal of the Vienna Convention3, a betrayal of Germany’s own code of diplomatic conduct4, and a direct affront to the principles of democracy, rule of law, and press freedom in Kosovo.
How the Record Was Built
From July to August 2025, our newsroom documented in painstaking detail a series of interventions by Mr. Rohde that no diplomat should have made:
On Kosovo’s sovereignty: He publicly urged lawfully elected mayors to vacate their offices and called for special police to withdraw from municipal buildings in the north, statements indistinguishable from direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state5.
On parliamentary paralysis: He suggested legislators “change teams,” an undiplomatic prescription that blurred the line between advice and instruction.
On Mitrovica’s bridge: He dismissed Kosovo’s Berlin Wall as a “traffic concern” and “relic,” trivialising 25 years of enforced division6.
On press freedom: His embassy declared7 “full solidarity” with Flutura Kusari when she filed a criminal complaint8 against a citizen whose satire prosecutors later deemed fully lawful. He did not retract or correct, even when the judiciary threw the case out twice. Instead, he lent Germany’s prestige to a SLAPP-style action9 and, in doing so, undermined both judicial independence and public trust.
The Questions Berlin Would Not Answer
On August 2, we sent detailed inquiries to international press freedom organisations and to Ms. Kusari herself. None answered substantively. On August 8, the German Embassy replied to our first formal request with a masterpiece of evasion: “Our assessment differs from yours… we continue to stand by our previously stated position.”
On August 21, we escalated directly to Berlin, sending seven questions to the Federal Foreign Office.
These were not rhetorical queries but precise tests of law and conduct:
Was Rohde’s urging of mayors to resign compliant with Article 41 of the Vienna Convention?
Did trivialising the Mitrovica bridge reflect official German policy?
Was solidarity with Kusari’s failed complaint compatible with Germany’s commitment to press freedom and rule of law?
Would Berlin accept Kosovo’s right to declare him persona non grata?
The ministry’s response, on the record:
“The German ambassador to Kosovo fully represents the position of the Federal Government and acts in full compliance with the Vienna Convention.”
One sentence, dismissing seven questions. Silence where there should have been accountability.
Cause and Effect
Days later, the announcement came: Ambassador Rohde was leaving Prishtina. Berlin insists it was “routine.” But we know better. The timing is unambiguous. Only after sustained scrutiny, our investigations on July 1 and August 1, our Media Watch of August 11, our Europe Watch on August 17, our accountability piece of August 20, and our direct inquiries of August 21, did Berlin act.
We do not claim that one article alone moved the Foreign Office. But taken together, the record we assembled, the unanswered questions we published, and the joint editorial attention this case drew in Germany made Rohde’s continued posting untenable. He had become not an asset but an embarrassment to his ministry.
A Legacy of Shame
Ambassador Rohde departs with the trappings of dignity but the substance of disgrace.
His tenure will be remembered for:
Undermining sovereignty by telling Kosovars to doubt their own government.
Eroding judicial independence by backing a personal complaint as a cause of international solidarity.
Trivialising national wounds by reducing the Mitrovica bridge to a traffic problem.
Entrenching oligarchic narratives by amplifying his messages through broadcasters tied to Kosovo’s most corrupt networks and Belgrade-funded media.
Germany tore down its own wall in 1989. Rohde defended Kosovo’s wall of division in 2025. That is the measure of his hypocrisy.
Editorial Judgment
Diplomacy is not license for interference. Friendship is not permission to corrode sovereignty. By his conduct, Rohde turned Germany’s mission in Prishtina into a platform for paternalism, arrogance, and selective solidarity.
The Gunpowder Chronicles believes his dismissal was necessary. Berlin will not admit it, but the Foreign Office has cut loose an envoy who ceased to represent his country honourably. His legacy will endure not as a bridge-builder but as a case study in how diplomacy, when stripped of integrity, becomes subversion.
For Kosovars, his departure is a small vindication: proof that sustained journalism can still enforce accountability, even when power prefers silence.
When Diplomacy Becomes Subversion: The Rohde Record
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) could not be clearer. Article 41(1) states that diplomats must “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State” and must not “interfere in the internal affairs of that State.” These are not decorative principles; they are the foundation of sovereign equality in international law. Yet for the past five years in Kosovo, as reported this past weekend
Rohde: We want Kosovo's EU membership, but without a government, the bus could miss you — Telegrafi.
Richtlinien für das Verhalten deutscher Auslandsvertretungen — PDF German Foreign Ministry.
When Diplomacy Becomes Subversion: The Rohde Record
In Kosovo, Rohde built not bridges but barricades: elevating extremists, silencing dissent, and teaching a nation to mistrust its own democracy. — The GPC Politics.
The Envoy Who Shrinks Democracy
Ambassador Jörn Rohde has turned diplomacy into a theatre of diminishment, disguising appeasement as stability, undermining sovereignty, and teaching Kosovars to doubt their own democracy. — The GPC Europe Watch.
German Embassy in Prishtina Facebook Post June 21, 2025.
International Silence on a Press Freedom Scandal
A celebrated press freedom advocate is accused of using international influence to silence a critic, while organisations that endorsed her evade detailed questions demanding accountability. — The GPC Media Watch.
The Advocate Who Intimidates: Flutura Kusari’s War on Prosecutors
By naming prosecutors and silencing critics, Flutura Kusari of ECPMF doesn’t fight for press freedom, she tramples it under ego, ambition, and the shadow of the Devolli empire. — The GPC Media Watch.