Kosovo opposition against special war crimes court

Tanjug News, B92

5 January 2015

PRIŠTINA — The Self-Determination, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Initiative for Kosovo will vote against the setting up of a special war crimes court.

These opposition parties in the Kosovo assembly in Pristina are against a court that would put on trial former members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) on war crimes charges.

Contrary to the opposition, the ruling DLK-DPK coalition is confident that the law on the special court will be adopted by a parliamentary majority, according to the Pristina-based Albanian language daily Zeri. 

The daily reported that the Special Court will not be established in January “despite urgent demands by international actors for that to be done as soon as possible.” 

The Kosovo government has to send a draft law on the special court to assembly for adoption within a few days from now. 

The new Kosovo government, finally formed on December 9, 2014, seven months after the elections, “expressed the belief that the law will be passed in parliament by a two-thirds majority.” 

Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa could not say when the draft law on the special court would be sent to the assembly but “pointed out that the status and other issues related to the court were being dealt with.” 

“I still do not have any information about when the law on the special court will be on the agenda, but I know that it is being prepared and that the proposal will be sent to the assembly as soon as it is done,” said Mustafa. 

He said that the setting up of the special court for war crimes was “a challenge for Kosovo institutions,” but “expressed the belief that it would help resolve doubts facing the citizens of Kosovo once and for all.” 

The special court for war crimes should prosecute crimes committed against Serbs, other non-Albanians and Albanians loyal to Serbia by the ethnic Albanian KLA. 

“Based on reports by a Council of Europe special rapporteur and by a EULEX special task force, the court will have to prosecute those responsible for trafficking in organs taken from bodies of more than 300 kidnapped and imprisoned Serbs and a small number of Roma and Albanians who were transported from Kosovo-Metohija to neighboring Albania for the purpose of organ extraction,” Tanjug said in its report.

Featured Image: Around 800 people belonging to ethnic minorities were abducted and killed by the KLA. Copyright: Amnesty International.

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