Deadline expires today, Albin Kurti: Without a president, we cannot help the four KLA leaders

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said that the election of Kosovo’s president and the defense of the former KLA leaders are separate issues.

However, he said that without electing the country’s new president—and with the deadline for doing so expiring at midnight today—the country would not be able to help the four former KLA leaders appeal their first-instance prison sentences for war crimes handed down by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

“For the four convicted men, we believe there should be a correction on appeal, while, on the other hand, we need a state and national strategy. Failure to elect the president will lead us directly to elections. But not only will it lead us to elections, it will also limit our ability to address the state strategy and the issue of the appeal,” Kurti said.

He said that Kosovo cannot address the appeal issue next year; “we must deal with it this month.”

“Without a president, Kosovo risks remaining in elections for months and without functioning institutions. Therefore, the issue of electing the president is an emergency,” he added./ REL