Round table in organization of NGO Aktiv dealt with possible amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, which would enable war crimes trials for persons in absentia.

In this way, many laws, international charter and conventions would be violated, it was said at a round table held in northern Mitrovica yesterday.

Positive or negative connotations that may arise have been discussed, if the amendment proposed by the Self-Determination is adopted.

A Kosovo human rights activist has expressed doubts about justice for Albanian and Serb victims of the conflict in the 1990s.

Bekim Blakaj, Director of the Humanitarian Law Centre Kosovo, told Belgrade daily Danas that he fears that most of the victims will not receive justice.

“We have no one convicted for the murder of Serbs. The Albanian victims in Kosovo have seen no justice, let alone the Serbs,” he said.

The Special War Crimes Court will not bring justice to all victims of the war in Kosovo, says the director of the Humanitarian Law Center in Pristina, Bekim Blakaj.

Bekim Blakaj expects the first indictments before the Special War Crimes Court in the fall. He points out that expectations are high, but he fears that many victims of war who are waiting for justice for 18 years, and whose all hopes lie in this court will not be satisfied, KIM radio reported today.

Organisations that monitor war crimes cases and the families of missing persons in Kosovo said they were surprised by a recent statement by Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri. The latter told members of a parliamentary committee on Monday that the issue of missing persons is not being discussed in Brussels because the European Union has asked for the lists of missing persons and that neither Pristina nor Belgrade provided such lists.