On Monday, a draft law was submitted to the Assembly of Kosovo by the Democratic Party of Kosovo, aiming to amend the Law on the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.
Të lidhura
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The PDK’s legal action follows the conviction that the Specialist Chambers handed down against former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, namely Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi. The ruling has been met with harsh reactions and has been considered unjust both by political forces and by citizens.
At a press conference, PDK leader Bedri Hamza noted that the establishment of the Special Court was intended to investigate the allegations from Dick Marty’s report, and that it must now stick to that original purpose.
Hamza gave a detailed overview of the proposed amendments and underlined the Assembly’s obligation to act in accordance with the Constitution and to carefully review the norms governing the activity of the Specialist Chambers.
According to Hamza, the Assembly must intervene when it assesses that the laws it has passed no longer serve their original purpose. The new draft law, he stressed, addresses exactly this by requiring a specific correlation between the charges and the reason for creating this court, rather than broad interpretations or ones based simply on the fact that an event took place during the conflict. It proposes that cases that do not fall within this jurisdiction be redirected to Kosovo’s judicial system, together with all relevant documentation and evidence, thus ensuring the continuity of the justice process where the law determines.
Another important point of the proposal is accountability, Hamza said. Since the Specialist Chambers operate outside Kosovo and have an institutional model that gives them independence from Kosovo authorities, the amendment provides for professional international organizations to be authorized to monitor their work. This monitoring is not intended to interfere with judicial decisions, but to assess respect for human rights, due process standards, detention conditions, witness protection and the length of proceedings, with these organizations obliged to report before the Assembly and the public.
The PDK leader explained that this amendment does not imply the dissolution of the Special Court. On the contrary, it is reoriented toward its initial mandate, dealing exclusively with the concrete allegations of Dick Marty’s report, while for other war crimes and acts without a direct connection, jurisdiction passes to the justice system in Kosovo. Hamza stressed that no case remains unaddressed by the justice system and that this mechanism creates no gap in criminal prosecution.
He called on other political forces in the Assembly for support and said he had held talks on the initiative with Prime Minister Albin Kurti of the Vetëvendosje Movement, the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, and the leader of the Alliance, Ardian Gjini. Hamza said he was confident there are sufficient grounds for this law to receive the needed votes from these parties.
Asked about the matter submitted to the Constitutional Court regarding the constitution of the Assembly and the formation of the new executive, Hamza said that amending the law on the Special Court is the absolute priority. He sought guarantees through public commitments that this law will be supported, adding that for the PDK, other issues become secondary compared with this objective.
Furthermore, Hamza reiterated his party’s commitment to exhausting all democratic and legal avenues in opposing what he described as injustice against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, with the aim of ensuring full due process standards in all further stages.
We recall that on 16 September, the Specialist Chambers imposed a prison sentence of 81 years on former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi.
