At least ten Kosovo Liberation Army members will stand trials in front of the special court for war crimes in Kosovo, which should be established soon, amongst whom and some from the very top.
Considering that their names are kept strictly confidential, public in Pristina speculates great deal about who will be targeted first of those investigated in relation with the organ trafficking, some are even whispering Hashim Thaci’s name.
It is planned that this court should deal with the destiny of Serbs and other non-Albanian population in the period 1998-2000. In that context crimes that are mentioned are those in camps Cahan and Kukes, Hotel ‘Drenica’ in Durres, and case Orahovac/Rahovec. However, no one in Pristina is willing to talk about this topic.
Albanian general public in the meantime is shaken with the draft law on creation of the special court, which is supposed to be adopted in the Kosovo parliament and where genocide is mentioned as one of the crimes. Pristina-based media thus claim that even though court trials would deal with individuals, it could lead to situation that Kosovo could be charged for genocide.
Political analysts Fatmir Sheholli says that this court will practically be the international one and will have all powers like the one in Hague, whereas Kosovo only provides consent for its creation.
“Considering that there won’t be a single Albanian judge or prosecutor in that court, it is clear that we are in fact facing international justice. I don’t believe that there was genocide in Kosovo, however there were war crimes, which took place after Serbian forces withdrew and it is right that truth is established finally. At the beginning court will have the five years mandate, but I believe that during that period new cases will be open, thus it is probable that mandate will be extended,” said Sheholli to Blic.
In period 1998-2000 Hashim Thaci was political director of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and he could be the first target of the special war crimes court for crimes of that organization in line with the chain-command responsibility.
