Eight days have passed since the Specialist Chambers in The Hague handed down 81 years in prison for four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Since that moment, protests against this first-instance ruling have intensified, along with calls for a well-organized state-level approach in confronting it during the appeal phase.
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Kosovo’s government has promised such a strategy, but according to political analysts who spoke to Radio Free Europe, it must not remain limited to simply paying for defense lawyers. The plan should mobilize local and international expertise and include a well-coordinated diplomatic offensive.
The executive led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti has not yet elaborated on what concrete form this strategy will take to contest before the Appeal panel the verdict of the Specialist Court, which found Hashim Thaçi, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli, and Rexhep Selimi guilty of war crimes.
Kurti’s office did not respond to RFE’s questions for additional details. Nevertheless, on September 19, the prime minister himself stated that unity is needed for a response that is as targeted and effective as possible to the judgment, both in terms of assisting the defense teams on appeal and in the international arena.
Donika Emini from the Balkan Policy Advisory Group in Europe and former MP Ilir Deda believe that this strategy should engage all branches of the state, including opposition parties, while the Ministry of Justice should bear the main burden.
The ministry in question has not yet reacted publicly, neither to the court ruling nor to any action plan. Its head, Donika Gërvalla, has been targeted by criticism, with calls for her dismissal constantly heard at evening gatherings in Prishtina’s squares.
These protests have become a daily occurrence since the sentences were announced.
Beyond the engagement of the Ministry of Justice, Emini and Deda recommend the establishment of a proper coordinating structure among state institutions, defense teams, specialists from various fields, and Kosovo’s diplomatic representatives.
According to them, this would prevent fragmented initiatives and clarify the tasks: who deals with gathering documentary evidence, who coordinates expertise, and who carries the weight of diplomatic communication.
Deda suggests that Kosovo engage a wide range of specialists – from jurists with global experience and historians, to archivists, military experts, and document researchers – to strengthen the defense of each of the convicted individuals towards a favorable outcome in the appeal instance.
He specifies that their goal is not to rewrite history or fabricate new facts, but to guide the defense teams in finding and accurately interpreting materials that already exist.
According to him, priority should be given to lawyers with concrete experience in appeal proceedings before international criminal courts.
He underlines that the appeal phase does not constitute a retrial of the case. It must meticulously identify legal errors that make the verdict unsafe, factual inaccuracies that have caused injustice, and defects in the calculation of the sentence.
This means, Deda explains, that state assistance must be tailored to the needs of the defense lawyers and the procedural rules of appeal, while the responsibility for argumentation and the legal line belongs exclusively to the defense.
Meanwhile, Emini emphasizes that alongside direct support for the defense, the knowledge of foreign experts is vital for another dimension: diplomacy and communication with the outside world.
She argues that their assistance serves to place the process in a broader framework and to stimulate discussions about how this matter has been handled, without limiting the debate solely to internal political clashes.
Experts on the developments insist that, through diplomatic channels, Kosovo must convey the message that individual criminal guilt cannot be turned into a burden of guilt for the entire KLA.
The trial panel in The Hague found the four accused responsible for war crimes including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, and torture against hundreds of people, as well as the murder of 96 people.
Deda underlines that it is essential for diplomacy to make it clearly understood that the first-instance verdict is not final and that the guilt of individuals cannot be transferred onto the KLA, the liberation war, or the state of Kosovo. But at the same time, he insists, support for the appeal must not turn into ignoring the pain of the victims.
He stresses that honoring the suffering of the victims does not undermine the defense – on the contrary, it strengthens its credibility.
Even though she sees diplomacy as an inseparable part of any future strategy, Emini advises that the government must be much more measured and calculated in its mode of action.
She clarifies that diplomacy does not simply consist of attending meetings where disagreement with the judgment is expressed and where it is claimed that the court has failed.
Emini points out the passivity of the executive in this regard, saying it should have engaged much earlier to stimulate an international debate about this judicial process, which gained momentum with the arrest of the four former leaders in 2020.
The objective, according to her, should not have been direct pressure on the court, but rather a serious monitoring, study, and discussion of this process in international legal, academic, and political circles.
