Vujinovic: PDK used KLA supporters' protests to pressure Kurti

Security studies researcher Nikola Vujinovic told Kosovo Online that the Democratic Party of Kosovo, as the political wing of the KLA, used protests by KLA supporters to put pressure on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, which was clearly seen during the election of Kosovo’s president and the adoption of amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers. He is convinced that the protests will continue until Kurti clearly states how he intends to respond to the verdicts against former KLA leaders.

Vujinovic believes that the main motive of those organizing the protests is to defend the legacy of the KLA, so that it cannot be claimed that the military formation committed crimes, because that would endanger the foundations of the “so-called Republic of Kosovo.”

“Over the past three weeks, we have seen that these protests are not homogeneous. Some non-governmental organizations are behind the protests, but there are also KLA veterans’ organizations, which do not have unified positions, and we have even seen violence between them,” he pointed out.

According to Vujinovic, the PDK used the protests to pressure Kurti into adopting amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers, including blocking parliament as a message about how members should vote. He believes the protests will continue because otherwise there is a fear that the public will accuse them of not believing in the KLA struggle.

“If the protests are aimed at the four convicted individuals, then essentially this is pressure on the court and the appeals process. In this way, they can generate a certain political force, which PDK leader Bedri Hamza believes he can mobilize. I think he is mistaken, because every protest has a great deal of energy at the beginning, but as time passes, that energy will decline and the aforementioned disagreements among the very actors leading the protests will come to the fore,” Vujinovic predicts.

He believes that no new political force will emerge from the protests, because the PDK itself is the political wing of the KLA, and it would be illogical to have two political camps built around the KLA legacy.

“This is not some spontaneous protest by dissatisfied citizens. It is a clearly organized protest by people who support the legacy of the KLA, Hashim Thaci and the other convicted individuals, as well as those whom they fear will eventually face trial,” he said.

Commenting on demands by KLA veterans that amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers should include a ban on reopening cases concerning facts and circumstances examined or finally adjudicated by the ICTY, UNMIK and EULEX, Vujinovic said it would be highly problematic to turn the Kosovo Supreme Court into a “supreme appellate court.”

He added that it cannot be expected that this institution would adjudicate objectively, meaning there is a concern that even in cases involving convictions, it could issue acquittals.

He also believes that the demonstrators will abandon their demand for the dismissal of Justice Minister Donika Gervalla and that, following the verdict against former KLA leaders and the protests by their supporters, “the foundations of the state of Kosovo will not be shaken,” because those who support Kosovo’s independence also support the Specialist Chambers.

“That court, like all courts in the former Yugoslav territories that were established to deliver some form of transitional justice and reconciliation, is in fact a political instrument. There is a great opportunity that we must make use of, and by ‘we’ I mean Belgrade and the Serbian community in Kosovo, Serbia, and the Republic of Srpska, so that this can be our argument that there should be no new recognitions, no entry of Kosovo into the EU, and no entry into the UN,” he stressed.