The Special Court’s verdict against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi has triggered a new phase of political and social debate in Kosovo. On September 16, the trial panel found the four former KLA leaders guilty of war crimes. Thaçi and Krasniqi were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, Veseli to 18 years, and Selimi to 13 years.
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Following the verdict, attention has not focused solely on the future of those convicted. The debate has also addressed the possible consequences for Kosovo’s politics, relations between the parties, and the way institutions will handle the issue.
Publicist Lis Bukuroca said in comments to “Bota sot” that, following the verdict, the relationship with the state and the functioning of institutions should be reconsidered.
He said that if political parties are seeking an institutional position, they cannot continue with the clashes and blockades that obstruct the institutions.
According to Bukuroca, the approach toward the state should and can change. He said that calls for an institutional stance are incompatible with sabotaging the election of the president and the stabilization of the state. The publicist added that he does not know whether the parties will reflect and understand that the state is defended neither through hatred nor through blackmail.
Turning to the party scene, particularly the PDK, Bukuroca said that this political force needs to reform from within. He rejected attempts that, in his view, seek to shift responsibility for developments in The Hague onto the Government of Kosovo.
The publicist said that the PDK is currently trying at all costs to attribute responsibility for its mistakes to Kurti. According to him, such an approach serves no one, because it is known who made the mistakes, while the influence of the Government of Kosovo in The Hague is zero.
Regarding the verdict’s effects on relations between the parties and their positioning toward the convicted figures, Bukuroca predicts that public statements will initially be more restrained.
He expects the verdict to initially bring a kind of resignation and efforts to avoid numerous public statements. According to him, some PDK representatives, filled with anxiety, believe they are expressing love by presenting positions that are entirely unserious and impossible to implement.
The issue of political and institutional responsibility for the allegations that have accompanied the former KLA leaders for years may also return to the public debate.
Bukuroca believes that this debate may reopen in the future, but not at this moment. He recalled that, before the Hague indictments, these figures had been publicly accused in Kosovo by journalists and politicians. According to him, many killings remain unresolved because the justice system has not functioned, while the side accused of these crimes has never taken serious steps to clarify them.
In this situation, the question arises as to whether the Hague verdict brings a long political period in Kosovo to a close or creates room for an even broader debate in the future.
According to Bukuroca, this chapter cannot be considered closed. He views the verdict as a development that has sparked major debate in Kosovo, while criticizing the way the issue has been handled in relation to Albanians.
He said that The Hague, at least for now, is closing nothing. According to him, during the reading of the verdict, there was an attempt to calm Albanians by speaking mainly about Albanians who had been killed. Bukuroca said that, if he is not mistaken, seven other commanders were also mentioned, who may perhaps be arrested. He also claimed that the sentences were harsher than those imposed on Serbian politicians, which, in his view, demonstrates a tendentious and prejudiced approach by the judges.
The publicist stressed that the discussion cannot end solely with the Special Court’s verdict, since the victims and the evidence presented during the trial remain.
In conclusion, Bukuroca told “Bota sot” that the chapter cannot be closed because there are victims. He recalled that many Albanians testified during the proceedings, including perhaps former members of FARK and the LDK, regarding their relatives, while former UDB leaders also gave testimony about their own people.
