Kosovo to file a lawsuit against Serbia for genocide and war damages

Independent Balkan News Agency

23 February 2015

Kosovo will file a lawsuit against Serbia for genocide and the damages caused during the war in 1998 and 1999, where 10 thousand Albanians of Kosovo remained killed and 1700 others went missing.

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Hashim Thaci says that Kosovo is looking into the possibility of sending this lawsuit to the International Court of Justice. He believes that Kosovo will win this case, because Slobodan Milosevic’s regime has killed, displaced and carried out genocide against Kosovo people.

“There’s no doubt that Serbia has carried out genocide in Kosovo. We have proof and witnesses. The whole world knows about this. But until Kosovo is part of the UNO, we’re trying to find the legal basis to sue Serbia on the count of genocide and we will and prove it to the court”, Thaci added.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Petrit Selimi has confirmed that the issue of the lawsuit on genocide and damages caused by Serbia in the war of Kosovo, will be opened at the right time.

“The issue of war damages and other damages such as stolen pensions, will be opened at the right time and international experts have confirmed that Kosovo is likely to prove Serbia’s responsibility on the crimes carried out in Kosovo”, declared Selimi.

Serbia: Kosovo’s lawsuit would lead to a suspension of the Brussels’ talks

Minister of Labor and Social Well-being at the government of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, said that the head of the Kosovo diplomacy, Hashim Thaci should have clarified his idea how he would take Serbia to the International Court of Justice on accusations of genocide.

Vulin said before journalists that such suggestion is dangerous.

“The idea, according to which, Serbia must pay war damages for genocide shows that Kosovo is a weak state, unable to formulate its policies in any other way. This means that the government wants to avoid the Brussels’ agreement and the talks being held there”, says Vulin.

Vulin said that Serbia cannot be sued at a time when agreements have been reached in Brussels.

“There cannot be a lawsuit against Serbia and at the same time, expect us to participate in the talks. Lawsuits for genocide and talks exclude each other”, said Vulin.

Mahmuti: Serbia is trying to conceal the traces of genocide

Meanwhile, the politician and one of the founders of KLA, Bardhyl Mahmuti, says that through different methods, Serbia is trying to conceal traces of genocide.

“Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide determines which acts fall under this category. Analyzing this convention, which is the foundation of International Criminal Law, the reader will see that the reason why the authors have asserted that “there have been massacres in Kosovo” was to conceal the fact that genocide has happened in Kosovo”, says Mahmuti.

According to him, the definition of Serb crimes in Kosovo as “massacres” is intentional, because this notion is not part of the definition of genocide.

“As a notion, massacre is part of war crimes, but not genocide”, says he.

Genocide is the intentional killing of people based on their ethnic group, nationality, race, religion or sometimes, political. There has been no agreement if the term genocide is used for politically motivated mass murders in general, but in the day to day use, this term is used as the intentional massive killings of civilians.

Featured image: Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Hashim Thaci

by

by