Albanians sue Serbia for genocide (Vecernje Novosti)
Parliamentary group of Hashim Thaci’s PDK submitted to the Kosovo Assembly request for voting on Resolution on genocide which Serbs committed against Albanians during the 1999 conflict.
By this document Thaci’s party practically announced initiation of the lawsuit against Belgrade before the International Court of Justice. ”Assembly obliges the Kosovo Government to initiate all political and legal procedures (local and international) regarding the establishment of justice on genocide and war crimes committed by Serbia, against people and property of Kosovo as well as clarifying the fate of missing during 1999”, reads the request of PDK.
If the text win majority of votes in the Assembly (and it is evident it will) it is not excluded that Thaqi will initiate the issue of war reparation, what he recently mentioned.
This move was understood by Belgrade as a new undermining of Brussels dialogue, while representatives of the Serbian List believe that this manoeuvre sends a message that their return to Kosovo institutions is not welcome. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic said that resolution on genocide does not contribute to the Brussels talks. “Does anybody think that under these conditions we can talk in Brussels,” asked Dacic.
Vice President of the Kosovo Assembly and MP from the Serbian List Jasmina Zivkovic said that resolution doesn’t have particular “legal strength” stating that it is obvious that voting was initiated in order to calm down internal political situation: “This is the attempt of creating the balance because of the establishment of the Special Court. Resolution is not on the agenda of the Assembly session that should be held on Thursday, but there is possibility for the adoption of the amended agenda, at the beginning of the session. Process of adopting resolutions is by the majority votes, and for this case votes of the Serbian MPs are not required.
Gracanica Mayor Vladeta Kostic said that PDK’s move is a bad signal showing that representatives of the Kosovo government don’t want Serbs as part of the institutions, particularly since all this is happening at the moment of discussions on the return of Serb representatives in the Kosovo Assembly.