Petkovic: The Hague verdict is very dangerous, they want to absolve the KLA of crimes against civilians

Petar Petkovic, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, said that there are at least two more instances where the verdict against the KLA leaders can be challenged – in the appeals process and before the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.

“We must bear in mind which court convicted Thaci, Veseli, Selimi, and Krasniqi. It is a Kosovo court, a so-called Kosovo court – this is not an international court of any kind. It is a Specialist Chamber established in 2017 in the so-called Pristina Assembly, but relocated to The Hague for security reasons. The verdict and the final decision regarding this verdict are issued by Pristina. There are at least two more instances where this decision can be challenged – the appeals process, as well as the Constitutional Court of Kosovo. There are special chambers there that can review the decision of the Specialist Chambers and challenge it,” Petkovic said on TV Pink.

He added that it is much more important that six of the 10 counts in the indictment were dismissed, namely those relating to crimes against humanity.

“The court dismissed six counts relating to crimes against humanity. By dismissing the crimes against humanity charges, they are absolving them of the crimes they committed against Serbs. The entire verdict concerns around 400 people who were arrested, mistreated and brutally treated, with 96 cases involving murder. Among these people were women, children, professors and farmers – people who had nothing to do with the hostilities,” Petkovic said.

He said that everything had been done in a deliberate and insidious manner.

“This is a Kosovo court, we have two more instances where this decision can be overturned, and ultimately Thaci and the others could also be acquitted. We should look at this verdict neither with elation nor with sadness, but wait patiently. If you look at Natasa Kandic's tweet from yesterday – well, this verdict also showed that Thaci and the others did not attack civilians and that civilians were not their targets, unlike the Serbian generals, whose targets were civilians. That is why this verdict is very dangerous – they want to absolve the KLA of crimes against civilians, not only for the period covered by the verdict – until June 20, 1999, but also for the period after that. They calculate that they only go up to June 20, 1999, when KFOR arrived in Kosovo and Metohija, and that supposedly this was when the war period ended and the period of peace began – which is not true. What followed was a period of hell for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, whether we are talking about Gorazdevac, Staro Gracko, Podujevo or other massacres,” he said.

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija said it was important to point out that the court did not address what the KLA's ultimate goal had been – the creation of an independent Kosovo.

“They do not say that it is punishable that the KLA terrorized all the people in Kosovo and Metohija. For them, it is not punishable that KLA members took part in armed conflicts, even though it was a paramilitary formation. They do not want to say that so-called Kosovo was created through crimes against Serbs and other non-Albanians with the help of their mentors. In other counts of the indictment, they showed most explicitly the responsibility of all four, including Thaci, since it was proven that they knew about all the crimes. They are dealing with what they called the KLA's Special War, which was directed, as they say, against political opponents – they view these 400 arrested people primarily as political opponents, mostly from the LDK, Rugova's party. The indictment does not even mention the Yellow House, because, as they say, there can be no Yellow House because they cannot examine the transplanted organs. All of this shows that the situation is such that in the Balkans, Serbs have to be guilty of everything. That is why we must preserve peace and stability,” Petkovic said.

He noted that, after returning from Paris, President Vucic also mentioned the other proceedings being conducted in The Hague, for contempt of court, in which a six-year prison sentence has been proposed, the same amount of time Thaci has already spent in detention.

“That proceeding concerns pressure exerted on witnesses who had the courage to testify,” he said.

Petkovic noted that there were violent protests following the verdict, even in front of international institutions, but that none of the authorities had reacted to this.

“After the verdict, there were violent incidents outside the court in The Hague, which led to water cannons being used. There were also violent incidents in Pristina, and people gathered in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. No one is reacting to these scenes. Not even to the attacks on international structures in Kosovo and Metohija. Instead, we are hearing reactions from the region, with Rama saying that the verdict is a disgrace. How are the Montenegrins reacting, how are the Croats reacting... Everyone is calling the Hague verdict into question,” Petkovic said.

Regarding reactions to the verdict from the region, he said that the convicted men had not been called killers or criminals anywhere in the region, but heroes.

“You are allowed to kill Serbs or Serbian children. This is complete hypocrisy and double standards. There should be no joy over this verdict, but we must wait and see how things develop to the end. Ultimately, they will not be convicted of crimes against Serbs. We have 200,000 people who have left Kosovo and Metohija. No one will be held accountable for that,” Petkovic concluded.