EXCLUSIVE: Kosovo to set up war crimes tribunal

By Fatjon Prroni

PRISTINA

Kosovo’s Parliament has voted to establish a Special Tribunal to adjudicate on the alleged crimes of Kosovo Liberation Army during and after the 1998-9 Kosovo war.

A total of 89 members of Kosovo’s 120-seat Parliament voted in favor on Wednesday with two abstentions and 22 voting against.

According to Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the Special Tribunal will have two headquarters, one in Kosovo and the other in a European nation.

Kosovo’s authorities were put under pressure from the U.S and EU to establish the tribunal, with the UN Security Council prepared to set it up without Kosovo's participation if necessary, Thaci said in a newspaper interview last week.

Kosovo’s Parliamentary head Jakup Krasniqi also said that there were clear directives from the U.S. Department of State for Kosovo’s Parliament to vote for the establishment of the tribunal.

Human organ trafficking

The need for a tribunal was established after European reporter Dick Marty passed a report for adoption to the Council of Europe in 2010.

Marty accused the Kosovo Liberation Army of crimes such as the inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking of human organs.

Thaci has claimed the report sought to damage the image of Kosovo, was not based on facts and was politically motivated. 

Albanian politicians claim the move is part of a "compensation scenario" whereby, because a war crimes tribunal was set up for Serbians, there must also be one for Albanians.

'Black cloud'

Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati told Anadolu Agency during his visit to Turkey last week that Albania was “pro-international justice, pro-uncovering the truth,  pro-clarifying any doubt that stands as the black cloud over Kosovo or any other state of the region”. 

“We are categorically against the compensation policy to the different peoples of former Yugoslavia,” he said.

Kosovo was liberated in 1999, as Slobodan Milosevic was forced to withdraw the army to bring an end to NATO air strikes and clashes with the KLA.

Kosovo Albanians unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008.

Europe's newest state has since been recognized by more than 100 states.

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