Pasic: The Specialized Chambers will not try Serbs, Kurti’s statements politically motivated and without legal basis

There is no possibility that the Specialized Chambers in The Hague will try members of Serbian forces, lawyer and former military prosecutor Dragan Pasic assessed, emphasizing to Kosovo Online that such claims by Kosovo’s caretaker prime minister Albin Kurti are politically motivated and aimed at pre-election purposes, but without any legal foundation.

Pasic explained that the Law on the Specialized Chambers and the Law on the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office clearly define the court’s jurisdiction.

“It is true that nationality is not mentioned, but reference is made to war crimes committed in the period from 1998 to 2000. Bearing in mind that certain Serbian military and police generals and senior officials have already answered before The Hague for criminal offenses committed on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, it cannot be expected that the Kosovo Specialized Chambers would try persons of Serbian nationality who have already been convicted. That fact is indisputable,” Pasic stated.

Asked which cases Albin Kurti had in mind when he said they could be referred to The Hague, Pasic noted that it might concern indictments already brought against senior Serbian military officers.

“First of all, I am referring to the former head of military security of the then Pristina Corps, General Momir Stojanovic, as well as police officials, but the indictment has already entered into legal force and the competent courts are the regular courts on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. For that reason, it is not expected that this case will be referred to The Hague or to any other international institution,” our interlocutor said.

Commenting on the statements of caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Pasic said that in public discourse, he seeks to present the leading figures of the KLA, who are being tried in The Hague, as victims of so-called mono-ethnic trials, in order to secure voter support ahead of the elections.

“He emphasizes that only Albanians are being tried. It should be borne in mind that elections are scheduled for December 28 this year and that he wants to secure his electorate. It is obvious that in this way he is trying to win over his voters, primarily veterans of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, presenting himself as someone who allegedly cares about the national interests of the so-called Republic of Kosovo. This is a political motive that has no legal foundation,” the lawyer explained.

He added that Kurti is well aware that the Specialized Chambers were established because Kosovo’s judicial institutions were unable or unwilling to prosecute war criminals.

“The so-called Republic of Kosovo committed itself to this back in 2014, when it signed an international agreement on the establishment of the Specialized Chambers, so it is not expected that already convicted persons will be tried again, and in any case it would already be known to the public who the potential perpetrators of these criminal offenses sanctioned by international humanitarian law are. We do not have such information, so new trials are not expected,” Pasic concluded.