Thaci on the establishment of the Specialist Court: The lesser evil was chosen for Kosovo, we avoided Russia and China

Former Kosovo President and former KLA leader Hashim Thaci, who is due to receive a verdict in The Hague on September 16 on charges of war crimes, said, speaking about the period when the Specialist Court was being established, that Kosovo had found itself caught between two fires at the time: either establishing the court together with international partners or allowing it to be established by the UN Security Council, and that the lesser evil for Kosovo had been chosen.

“We opted for the lesser evil for Kosovo. In doing so, we kept Russia and China out of the process. Had the opposite happened, it would have been a step backward for Kosovo in legal, political and historical terms. I cannot and do not want to talk about the substantive circumstances that led to the establishment of this court and its subsequent work, as a lengthy and intriguing process. I was committed to ensuring that nothing bad happened to Kosovo. Now I am paying the price with my own skin. But this difficulty, too, will be overcome,” Thaci said from The Hague in an interview with Top Channel.

He also said that the allegations of organ trafficking in the report by Dick Marty, a former Council of Europe rapporteur, had served as a justification for establishing the Specialist Court.

“Investigations into Dick Marty's allegations of alleged organ trafficking led nowhere. They were merely a justification for establishing this court. For almost six years, we have been hearing recycled allegations that have already been investigated for three decades by various institutions of international justice, and later by local and Serbian institutions as well. The KLA has been investigated and prosecuted more than any other warring party in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. On the other hand, it was more willing to cooperate with international justice than any of the others. Something does not add up here. The truth is that historical oppression and Serbian massacres of Albanians turned the KLA into a mass movement as an act of popular self-defense. We remember the massacres in Drenica in February and March 1998. This fact is also confirmed by, and was widely reported on by, world diplomats. Serbia started the war. Kosovo defended itself against extermination. The same thing had been done several years earlier by Croats, Bosniaks and Slovenes when faced with Serbia. As Ukrainians are doing today when faced with Russian aggression,” Thaci said.

Speaking about his role during the war, he said that he had returned to Kosovo from the West at a time when quite a few people thought that Kosovo was giving up.

“I returned to join the Albanian resistance. Now I am being accused of contributing to the escalation and mass mobilization of the resistance. At all times, my entire activity was transparent, both to the people of Kosovo and to international mechanisms,” Thaci said.

He did not want to answer a question about whether he had information that the Kosovo Presidency and former President Vjosa Osmani had been threatened because they refused to allow inspections by the Hague prosecution.

Commenting on Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's appeal to US President Donald Trump, at the Board of Peace, to intervene to stop what he called the “madness” directed at Thaci and the other KLA leaders, and responding to a question about whether he expects a concrete reaction from the United States or President Trump, Thaci said that he expects a fair verdict.

“I expect a fair, impartial verdict that will be influenced by no one and by no motive. The judges have seen the truth, the world has seen the reality. Now it is up to them to make the decision, it is in their hands. Edi has visited me several times. I am grateful to him from the bottom of my heart. Through reforms, he decided to make Albania European,” he said.

He added that Edi Rama values the trust of citizens and cooperation with the international community.

“He listens carefully to criticism as well. Hats off to him, he does not give in in the face of difficulties. Albania is making progress. The confirmation that a NATO summit will be held in Tirana next year, in addition to its membership in NATO, represents the pinnacle of Albania's political history. It represents the West's confidence in its Euro-Atlantic progress. This fact should make every Albanian proud. Following Kosovo's failure to participate in the summit in Ankara, I hope Edi will find a legal way for Kosovo to participate on the sidelines of the summit in Tirana. Edi facilitated Kosovo's participation in the Board of Peace. The NATO summit may be more difficult for his efforts. But Kosovo must also help itself,” Thaci said.