The vote came after the court last month sentenced former Kosovo president Hashim Tha\u00e7i<\/a> and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi, to respectively 25, 25, 18 and 13 years in prison, for war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crimes involved the murder of at least 96 people and the unlawful detention and torture of more than 300 others, most of them Kosovo Albanians. The court dismissed the charges of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The verdict triggered an important wave of protests in Kosovo, where many consider the sentences unjust and view the court as a politically motivated institution established to make concessions to Serbia to bring it closer to the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the move is far from over. Yesterday, October 14, Kosovo\u2019s government approved the establishment of a working group to support the four former KLA leaders appeals. The working group would be led by first deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca, and would include institutional and parliamentary representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The amendments<\/a> specifically provide for cases deemed to fall outside the Specialist Chambers\u2019 jurisdiction to be prosecuted in Kosovo. It also allows appeals to Kosovo\u2019s Supreme Court, caps prison sentences at 15 years in line with the former Republic of Yugoslavia sentencing limits and the lex mitior<\/em> principle favouring defendants and requires sentences to be served in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The changes aim to \u201cprevent institutional overreach\u201d and reaffirm the \u201cconstitutional primacy\u201d of Kosovo\u2019s regular courts, enabling the transfer of cases outside the KSC\u2019s jurisdiction, along with evidence, protected witnesses and detainees, to domestic authorities while \u201csafeguarding fair-trial rights and procedural continuity and legality\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the new amendments, the KSC would not have jurisdiction over general war crimes, crimes against humanity and post-war political violence in Kosovo unless these constitute an immediate and integral part of specific crimes within its mandate. This means the KSC would no longer be able to prosecute war crimes, including torture, murder, unlawful detention, or political killings committed during or after the war, unless they fall within the narrow scope of the organ trafficking that initially prompted its establishment, or crimes against minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The amendments to the law on the KSC were initiated by the Democratic Party (PDK), the party of Tha\u00e7i, which made its support for the ruling Vet\u00ebvendosje party conditional on a vote to elect a new president by the October 6 deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The amendments secured a two-thirds majority in parliament. However, constitutional amendments require a double majority: two-thirds of all 120 MPs and a majority of MPs representing minority communities. By a single vote, the required threshold was not met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe had very limited time to analyse the amendments, especially given that we do not yet have the final judgment\u201d, acknowledged Prime Minister Albin Kurti in an address to the Parliament. \u201cThese moves to amend the law on the Specialist Chambers are hasty and have not been sufficiently analysed. However, I supported these amendments, convinced that Kosovo does not accept the actions of this court, which undermine Kosovo\u2019s struggle for freedom,\u201d Kurti added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Established in 2015 under an international agreement and enshrined in Kosovo\u2019s Constitution, the KSC are judicial institution mandated to prosecute crimes related to the 1998\u201399 conflict. Kosovo\u2019s Constitution provides that the Specialist Chambers may have a seat both inside and outside Kosovo. However, the court has yet no office in Kosovo and receives logistical support from the EU Rule of Law Mission (EULEX).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their most contested establishment<\/a> followed pressure from Kosovo\u2019s US and EU allies, and a Council of Europe report alleging organ trafficking. Although the EU Task Force found no evidence of organ trafficking, it identified evidence of war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The European Union (EU) has made clear that the legal amendments conflict with Kosovo\u2019s obligations. \u201cThis is concerning. We call on Kosovo to adhere to its international obligations to guarantee the judicial independence of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers,\u201d Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s office told Justice Info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It says that this commitment stems from a 2014 exchange of letters between Kosovo\u2019s then-president, Atifete Jahjaga, and the EU\u2019s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, which served as the foundational international agreement for establishing the Specialist Chambers. A separate interim agreement between Kosovo and the Netherlands subsequently provided for the court\u2019s relocation to the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To change the KSC\u2019s mandate, Kosovo would need to amend or withdraw from the relevant international agreements, a move requiring the approval of two-thirds of all MPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alexander Heinze, substitute professor and lecturer in law at the University of G\u00f6ttingen in Germany, said to Justice Info the court\u2019s authority was ensured principally through the delegation of certain sovereign powers for the duration of its mandate. A corollary of this arrangement, he added, was the establishment of the court\u2019s own legal framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the changes to the law, it remains unclear how Kosovo\u2019s authorities will proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on the move, the KSC spokesperson said it would remain \u201cfully focused\u201d on implementing its mandate. \u201cThe KSC will ensure fair, impartial and secure judicial proceedings, and the protection of witnesses and victims,\u201d Michael Dole told Justice Info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, last week\u2019s move was not the first attempt to alter the court\u2019s legal framework. In December 2017, the Kosovo Assembly attempted to repeal the law on the KSC, but the initiative failed following strong reactions from the EU and the US. In August 2020, president Tha\u00e7i himself submitted a proposed constitutional amendment seeking to replace the existing termination clause, which governs the KSC\u2019s mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proposed constitutional amendment was subsequently referred by the speaker of the Kosovo Assembly to the \u2018Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court\u2019 for a prior assessment, as required by the Constitution. In November 2020, just a week after Tha\u00e7i\u2019s arrest, the Chamber ruled<\/a> that the proposed constitutional amendments would diminish the rights and freedoms guaranteed by Constitution. Referring to the 2014 exchange of letters with EU, it noted that the KSC\u2019s mandate would continue until the completion of the respective proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The issue was not discussed further in Kosovo until last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perparim Gruda, who chairs of the Assembly\u2019s Committee on legislation, said an institutional path would be found to ensure that the Specialist Chambers apply Kosovo law. \u201cThose amendments to the law are quite different from other initiatives. There is a legitimate concern about whether the KSC will implement the legislative amendment adopted by the Assembly concerning the court,\u201d Gruda said to Justice Info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a state, we can compel the court to apply it. It is an obligation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Kosovo authorities and many others, the KSC\u2019s position suggests that it considers itself an autonomous legal regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kushtrim Istrefi, an associate professor and director of the master\u2019s programme in Public International Law and Human Rights Law at Utrecht University, as well as a substitute member of the Venice Commission, argued that the Specialist Chambers had failed to provide persuasive reasoning on the application of the principle of the most lenient sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, \u201cit leaves unanswered the meaning of the court\u2019s legal autonomy,\u201d Istrefi told Justice Info. He pointed out that, seized on the Salih Mustafacase<\/a>, the Kosovo Constitutional Chamber has failed to provide detailed reasoning and theoretical backing for what it means when it refers to its autonomy. \u201cIt is regrettable that the Constitutional Chamber showed less rigour and willingness to engage with controversial questions of applicable law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frank Harhoff, a former judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), believed that changing the law \u201cis premature to assert at a stage where certain processes have yet to unfold.\u201d \u201cI am not certain it makes sense now to argue that we should not overlook this history when some important decisions were taken,\u201d he told Justice Info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protests against the Hague court, legislative changes, also implies the public shaming of certain victims and witnesses, and calls to release testimony related to specific killings. All this have heightened fears among the families of some of those involved in the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The family of a person named in the indictment against the four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders convicted in September is deeply distressed. \u201cWe are not at all satisfied or happy. It doesn\u2019t make you feel content being regarded as a \u2018traitor\u2019,\u201d said the brother of one victim. \u201cWe will not accept any reparation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAttempt to control the Specialist Chambers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese moves to amend the law are hasty\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Protest](\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kosovo_UCK-war-criminals-protest_@Serbeze-Haxhiaj.jpg\")
In conflict with international agreements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can compel the court to apply it\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn autonomous legal regime\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Selective empathy for victims and witnesses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kosovo-Specialist-Chambers_judges_@KSC-540x360.jpg\")
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