Kosovo Liberation Army veterans will protest against the creation of a new EU-backed court that will try ex-fighters suspected of war crimes allegedly committed during and after the 1998-99 conflict.
Veterans’ groups on Tuesday called for people to join them on a march through the streets of Pristina on Wednesday against the creation of the special court, which they say is an insult to the Kosovo Liberation Army’s wartime heroism.
Xhavit Jashari, head of the Association of Families of KLA Martyrs, said that the ex-fighters would hold another demonstration when the draft law which would enable the establishment of the new court is sent to parliament.
“We will protest on the day that the [parliamentary] session takes place as well and make attempts to convince the members of parliament not to approve such a court,” Jashari told in a press conference in Pristina.
The planned march through the city to the headquarters of the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, has already received support from students’ organisations at Pristina, Prizren and Peje/Pec universities.
It remains unclear when the parliament will vote on the draft law, the last legal step before the special court can be established.
Besnik Berisha from the Kosovo prime minister’s office told BIRN that the draft law is still with the ministry of justice and it would be sent to parliament soon.
Berisha said that the government until recently was still negotiating with the international community, which had asked for some changes in the draft.
He added that the international community did not accept the Kosovo government’s demand for changes, such as the inclusion of so-called ‘political murders’ committed after June 12, 1999, when the war in Kosovo ended.
It also rejected the government’s request for the court’s archives to be considered as public documents in Kosovo.
“All legal ways [to achieve] those changes have been exhausted. The negotiations just ended and soon the draft law will be submitted to MPs,” Berisha said.
The EU’s special representative in Kosovo, Samuel Zbogar, said on Monday that the court should be established as soon as possible.
“We are receiving questions about why the special court’s setting up is being delayed every day. All we can answer is it that it is a difficult and demanding process. However, it is an international obligation,” said Zbogar.
The draft law says that the new court’s jurisdiction will cover offences committed between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2000.
Its judges will be interviewed by an international panel and appointed by the head of the EU’s rule-of-law mission in Kosovo.
The draft law says that chambers will be based in Kosovo as well as in a host country, while the prosecution will be in a host country. It has been widely rumoured that the Netherlands will be the host country.
A European Union Special Investigative Task Force report said last year that unnamed former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters could face prosecution at the new court for conducting “a campaign of persecution” against Serbs, Roma and Kosovo Albanians believed to be collaborators with the Serbian regime.
The alleged crimes include killings, abductions, illegal detentions and sexual violence.
