Europe and the United States urged Kosovo on Tuesday to create a special court to investigate allegations of organ harvesting by ethnic Albanian guerrillas, saying failure would allow Serb-ally Russia to take up the cause at the United Nations.

The West wants an ad hoc tribunal, created by Kosovo but located in the Netherlands, to address allegations contained in a 2011 report by the Council of Europe that members of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) removed and sold organs from Serb captives during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

Special Court will be established, either through the Kosovo Assembly or the UN Security Council, said today the EU Special Representative to Kosovo, Samuel Zbogar, in a conference in Pristina. “From what I’m hearing from friends, establishment of the special court cannot be stopped,” said Zbogar. He said it is time for Kosovo to remove “the black cloud” hanging over it with regards to war crimes allegations contained in the Council of Europe’s report by the Swiss senator Dick Marty. “The court will not damage Kosovo’s image but will clear it,” he stressed.

President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga met today the US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp with whom she discussed the Constitutional Court amendments that pave way for establishment of the special court. Jahjaga said the Kosovo institutions remain committed to establishing the special court as an international obligation.

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo green-lighted Wednesday the establishment of a war crimes court.

The court in question is expected to try alleged crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army during theKosovo war from the period of Jan, 1, 1998 to Dec. 31, 2000. The amendment validating the establishment of the war crimes court will be submitted to a vote in the Assembly of Kosovo.

Members of the Kosovo Assembly will vote on the establishment of a special court that will address war crimes allegations, in late April or early May. Unnamed sources told Politiko that this timeline has been agreed by Kosovo institutions and international officials, unless there are no unexpected developments. Hashim Thaci and Isa Mustafa, the leaders of the two biggest parties in Kosovo, as well as President Atifete Jahjaga, have expressed full support for the establishment of the court.

Kosovo's Constitutional Court today declared as admissible the request of the Kosovo Assembly Speaker, Kadri Veseli, in regards to constitutional amendments (Amendment 24) which would allow the establishment of a special court that will address war crimes allegations.  According to this decision, the proposed Amendment No. 24 does not diminish the rights and freedoms set forth in Chapter II and III of the Constitution. Therefore, the proposed amendment is in accordance with the Constitution.

The Special Court is a painful issue for Albanians, because for the first time they will face an international court which will judge the crimes against Serbs and other non-Albanians, told TV KIM Veljko Odalovic, Chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Government of Serbia.

Odalovic says that Albanians have to understand that Kosovo institutions would not be tried, but the crime that was committed against about 3,500 people.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, while reporting to the Kosovo Assembly on Friday, said that the establishment of the special court which will address war crimes allegations, does not affect the independence of the judiciary in Kosovo. According to him, the actions of the government regarding the special court are based on the exchange of letters between Kosovo and the EU. He reminded MPs that this correspondence was ratified by the Assembly of Kosovo in 2014.

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Hashim Thaci, said on Friday that the future of Kosovo will be unclear if it doesn't establish the special court which will address war crimes allegations.  "The alternative is the establishment of the special court by the United Nations,” Thaci said. According to him, only Kosovo enemies would want to see the failure to establish special court.  "The alternative is too painful and completely outside the authority and laws of Kosovo," he added.

The front-page editorial of Kosova Sot today writes that special court, which must be approved by the Assembly of Kosovo, should not address only alleged war crimes cases. The paper writes that after UNMIK and EULEX failed to reveal serious crimes and corruption cases, allowing political mafia to capture all state institutions and public companies, the establishment of such court is the only alternative left for justice. “Special court should be required to address with utmost seriousness also the so-called ‘big fish’ cases.”