PDK lawmakers Blerta Deliu-Kodra and Përparim Gruda walked out of a meeting of the Legislation Committee after the agenda failed to include the draft law on amendments to and supplements of the Law on the Specialist Chambers of Kosovo.
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Blerta Deliu-Kodra called it unacceptable for the committee to address six other issues while the draft law on the Specialist Chambers was not considered. According to her, under the current circumstances, this issue should have been given priority.
She said that she and Përparim Gruda would not continue attending the meeting, describing the way the agenda had been drafted as unserious.
Përparim Gruda said that the Assembly of Kosovo could not fail to take action regarding the Specialist Court in The Hague. He said it could not be allowed for three or four judges there to “tarnish Kosovo’s history” while lawmakers failed to adopt any act.
Gruda also criticized the position that the Assembly had no means of taking action against the Specialist Chambers. According to him, such a claim was an evasion of responsibility, since it was the Assembly of Kosovo that established the Specialist Court. He added that the Assembly could abolish the court or change its jurisdiction, as proposed by the PDK.
Besnik Tahiri, a lawmaker from the Alliance, also walked out of the meeting. During the discussion of the draft law related to the Specialist Chambers, Tahiri asked why the Ministry of Justice was not sending the initiative to the Assembly of Kosovo.
Tahiri called for deep reflection following the sentencing of former KLA leaders, describing the issue as vital for Kosovo. He said the September 16 ruling, which he considered unjust, had placed the country in need of a more serious response.
According to Tahiri, if there was no will to send the draft law, which is currently at the Ministry of Justice, to the Assembly, this should be stated openly as a political position. If the law was deemed insufficient, he called for this to be explained and for it to be made clear why the document was not being advanced.
Vigan Qorrolli, chair of the Legislation Committee, said that the lawmakers should have remained in the room to hear the counterarguments as well.
Qorrolli said he hoped Kosovo would have a president of the Republic and that work would continue in the interests of citizens. He stressed that, in addition to being politicians, committee members also have their own professions, and expressed regret that some colleagues, despite being lawyers, were, in his view, making politics out of issues they were convinced did not stand as they were presenting them.
He added that lawmakers should stay to hear the counterarguments rather than issue rebuttals and leave the room without being convinced by the positions expressed.
