Prishtina, 17 October 2026, dtt-net.com – The main opposition party in Kosovo called newly elected President of Kosovo to sign changes made ten days ago amending the law on special war crimes EU/USA sponsored court in The Hague, following guilty verdict and sentencing by European and American judges of former President and three former leaders of Kosovan guerilla which fought for liberation and independence from Serbia.
The leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Bedri Hamza, called for the law to be forwarded to the Justina Shiroka-Pula and promulgated without delay.
“We did not enact this law to please anyone. We enacted it to ensure justice and independence from the influence of any party whatsoever,” he said.
He emphasized that Kosovo has not delegated its sovereignty to the Specialized Chambers or any other judicial body, and that the Assembly has the right to enact laws to protect its values and the liberation struggle.
“If anyone is concerned, they should be concerned about the injustices in The Hague, not about the legislative initiatives of the Assembly of Kosovo,” he said.
“I am confident that the President will also promulgate it without delay,” he added.
After days of accusations between the two sides, and clashes in the streets of capital Prishtina between Hashim Thaçi supporters and police, the Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the PDK voted changes proposed to the law, which foresees holding retrial in Prishtina court, if the appeal panel of the EU and USA sponsored special court in The Hague would order a retrial, following the sentencing of 16 September to total 81 years on war crimes charges of the four former leaders of Kosovo guerilla.
Then lawmakers then elected former minister of industry and current Chairperson of the Academy of Sciences and Arts Justina Shiroka-Pula for new President of Kosovo, and avoided early elections.
On September 16, Hashim Thaçi, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli, and Rexheo Selimi, were sentenced to total 91 years of imprisonment by the panel of first instance, of which Thaçi and Krasniqi to 25 years each, Veseli to 18 and Selimi to 13, on charges of war crimes during the 1998-1999 war of KLA for liberation and independence from Serbia.
According to the judges, they were part of criminal enterprise, but with individual responsibility, for the charges they are sentenced.
For cases currently in process, the amended law foresees that the proceedings will continue in the Appeals Court according to the existing structure of the Specialist Chambers and in the event that the Appeals Court orders a retrial, it would be conducted under the new jurisdiction [if changed by Kosovo parliament], and when the conditions are met, the case would be transferred to Kosovo territory.
The prosecution has prosecuted only members of Albanan Kosovo Liberation (KLA).
Nearly 13,000 Albanian civilians were massacred by Serbia forces, 20,000 girls and women raped, 120,000 houses destroyed during the war and more than 800 000 deported forcibly to Albania and North Macedonia during the two-year war.
Around 1500 civilians are still missing, of which around 500 Serbs believed to be killed by KLA members in revenge.
Formation of the EU-sponsored and USA-backed special court was triggered by a report of the late Swiss politician, Dick Marty, adopted in 2011 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Marty said in his report that Thaçi, the former speaker of Parliament Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, also a former Speaker of Parliament, and former member of the Parliament Rexhep Selimi, engaged in human organ harvesting of Serb and Albanian civilians during and after the 1998-1999 war, which they have denied.
The indictments by the prosecution have not included human harvesting allegations by Marty.
The four have the right to appeal the verdict of the court, which many in Kosovo treat as “mono-ethnic” and of “selective justice” imposed by the EU and former USA government.
The office of the prosecution has ignored war crimes committed by Serbia army, police and paramilitaries on ethnic Albanian civilians during the 1998-1999 war, despite that the fact EU-27 governments have said seven years ago that existing legal framework enables investigation and prosecution of “all alleged war crimes”.
The EU Council of Ministers in June 2019 said that the law of August 2015 of Kosovo parliament, with which the court was formed after pushed to change the Constitution to pave the way for the law, enables the court to tackle all crimes, including those committed by the regime of the then President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic.
“The existing legal framework enables proper investigation and prosecution of all alleged war crimes,” reads the text of conclusions of the EU Council of 18 June 2019.,,
