The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) will begin work on Monday to amend the Law on the Specialist Chambers. PDK acting chair Vlora Çitaku said the proposed changes would be submitted to the Assembly within two weeks.
Speaking to KosovaPress, Çitaku said the PDK was open to discussions with the European Union, other international allies and civil society. She said the aim was not to defend a party position, but to draft a law that is as legally sound as possible, while also considering proposals from other parties.
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She said members of the Kosovo Assembly had shown a high level of political and national awareness while considering the law. Çitaku said it was not a PDK law or the law of any single political party, but a law for Kosovo, its history and its future. She expressed confidence that, just as the motion to add it to the agenda had passed, the law would receive the necessary support at Friday’s plenary session.
According to Çitaku, the only difference with the Vetëvendosje Movement was procedural: the party believed changes could not be made at that stage. Despite that disagreement, she said, both sides shared the goal of passing the law to support the defence in The Hague of four soldiers who founded the KLA.
Çitaku recalled that the law was passed on 6 October under entirely extraordinary circumstances. After its passage, she said, the PDK received valuable proposals that could strengthen the law without changing its substance or purpose. She stressed that, because the law could be challenged at many levels, it was important to ground it in the strongest possible legal arguments.
The PDK had believed that the Assembly’s rules of procedure allowed the law to be amended or reconsidered, but Çitaku said there had been differing interpretations of those rules. To avoid leaving Kosovo without a law, it was agreed that, at this stage, it would be passed as it had emerged from the two readings. Çitaku said that, after it was decided the changes could not be made at that point, the PDK was ready to speak with all parties starting Monday.
She mentioned concerns raised by the European Union and other international allies, as well as a civil society initiative to contribute. Çitaku said the PDK’s doors would be open for consultations and that strengthening the law mattered more than party ego or pride.
Meanwhile, the Kosovo Assembly voted by 79 votes to add the Draft Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office to its agenda. The draft law, passed in two readings on 6 October, was returned to the Assembly by President Justina Shiroka-Pula at the PDK’s request.
Following Çitaku’s request, the matter was placed last on the agenda. The Speaker of the Assembly postponed the session until Friday at 11:00.
