Serbian national broadcaster RTS reported that 39 lawyers who will work with the Special Court for the KLA crimes were selected and three Kosovo Serbs, Dejan Vasić, Ljubomir Pantović and Nebojša Vlajić are among them.
Speaking at the RTS morning news, lawyer Nebojša Vlajić said that the appointment of lawyers and victims’ representatives (lawyers) is a prerequisite for the court to start working, but it is not yet known when the first indictments will be filed.
When asked if everything is ready for the court to start working, Vlajić stated that as far as defense lawyers and victim’s legal representatives are concerned, they think they are ready to start.
“I cannot know whether everything is ready in the court, I think that everything is technically ready, but I think this is more about the political foundation for the beginning of the work of this court. We can see at the moment there is also no prosecutor, that Schwendiman’s mandate has ceased, I cannot say it has expired, because he was appointed only a year and a half ago, so I think that few more things have to be solved and only then we can start working,” Vlajić explained.
He pointed out what is new in the work of this court is that victims have the right to legal representation.
“This is the first time in the international judiciary and I think it is a good provision, that more attention is paid to the victims, because I think the aim and purpose of this new court must be to ensure that victims receive proper satisfaction, perpetrators of criminal offenses are punished, and victims, wherever possible, receive compensation, not only moral, but also material” Vlajić stressed.
He explained the procedure was such that lawyers have applied for the both defence of defendants and the victims.
“At this moment we do not know who will be accused, so this is a normal procedure,” Vlajić added.
Asked whether he had contact with families that could be victims, Vlajić said he did.
“I have had several times before, not only related to the work of this court, but also in my work on the war crimes cases in Kosovo. People are interested in the beginning of the work of this court, but I can freely say expectations are not high. Thus the people are waiting for the court to start working so that they see how things will be, and only then to draw some conclusions,” Vlajić said.
