Spahiu: Kurti risks being accused of obstructing justice before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers

Analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu told Kosovo Online that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti took a significant risk by adopting amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers and put himself in a position where he could be accused of obstructing justice before that judicial institution.

Spahiu believes that Kurti made a concession to the Democratic Party of Kosovo by adopting the amendments to the law, but claims that through this maneuver the Kosovo prime minister made “fools” of everyone, because he chose a person for the presidency who suited him.

“He achieved his goal, made a concession to the PDK by getting the law passed, but while playing games with the domestic political scene, he himself took quite a risk, because the Specialist Chambers in The Hague could now accuse him of obstructing justice by supporting the adoption of the law,” Spahiu said.

According to him, the adoption of a law that is essentially of no importance to the Specialist Chambers, because the Kosovo Constitutional Court in The Hague can overturn it, nevertheless represents a threat to some future witnesses.

“As the Special Court has announced, there may be other indictments besides those that have already been adjudicated. That would then mean intimidating witnesses, and I think Kurti could be called out by the court for obstructing justice,” Spahiu repeated.

He pointed out that the amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers are “suspicious” because it is not known who authored the changes, whether a foreigner or one of the PDK’s legal experts. According to him, even protests by supporters cannot influence the court in The Hague.

“That law has no effect on anything, nor does it work in favor of those awaiting a second-instance verdict in The Hague,” he said, adding that the Specialist Chambers and their judges in The Hague are “far from a country of two million people for anyone to be able to influence or blackmail them.”

“The Kosovo Parliament adopted that decision, the president of Kosovo reached an agreement with the international community, and things cannot be turned back. A child that is born cannot be put back into its mother’s womb, it is unnatural. The Special Court, which was established and has to some extent done its job, cannot be returned to zero. That would be ridiculous and unnatural,” Spahiu concluded.