„The Special Court is unjust and biased against the KLA as a warring party and toward our Albanian ethnicity. The establishment of this court is contrary to our individual and collective memory -human and political“ – reads the former Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti’s latest assessment of the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers.
„We accepted this court – which was superimposed on the state with 82 votes in favor – as an integral part of Kosovo. The court is unjust and biased,“ Kurti said at a press conference today, reported by Kosovo media.
The Special Court’s allegations of criminal activity within the KLA are absolutely false, Kurti claimed.
„The prosecution is wrong, there was no such structure. The KLA had its main headquarters and appropriate offices. This latest news in Kosovo about certain criminal activity within the KLA is false,“ the former Kosovo PM alleged.
According to Kurti, the court’s explanation that the KLA had been operating since ’98 with the intention of „exercising control“ is „incredible“ because: „The goal was liberation and not the exercise of control“.
If one had stated that any of them (cf. KLA members) intended to exercise control in March
2018 – it would have been more believable than the prosecution’s claims that they did so in 1998
He further stated that Kosovo „is not paying the price of freedom“ but „its political mistakes“ with the Special Court in The Hague. Kurti also demanded from the government in Pristina „to commit itself to protect those indicted“ by the Special Court, Pristina-based media reported.
„Unfortunately, Kosovo does not have a government that can do that. This illegitimate government, which was dependent on Srpska Lista since the beginning and which is now a minority, cannot protect itself, let alone anyone else,“ said Kurti.
„We must be together in our liberation war and against Serbia, which does not recognize us,“ he added.
„The KLA did not belong to anyone specific, but everyone. We all have to protect it,“ Kurti stressed at a press conference held in Pristina today.
He once again reiterated that Kosovo had previous courts, starting with UNMIK, through EULEX, assessing that they were „special“ in their „passivity“.
Kurti, who presents himself as a Social Democrat, has repeatedly pointed out that Kosovo does not need a Special Court for crimes in Kosovo, noting that it was formed to cover the failure of the UN and EULEX.
Last spring, as the outgoing prime minister, Kurti fired his political adviser, Shkelzen Gashi – only a day after Gashi said that „KLA members committed war crimes“ during a guest appearance on a talk-show, which stirred an avalanche of negative comments in the Kosovo public.
The Self-determination movement has strongly opposed the establishment of the Specialist Chambers over the past couple of years.
Rexhep Selimi, the head of the parliamentary group Self-Determination, is one of the four high-ranking KLA officials who are currently in The Hague and against whom the indictments have been confirmed.
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