Police in Kosovo used tear gas and water cannons on Monday evening against protesters outside Parliament in Pristina, the capital, after lawmakers ended a session without finalising changes that would limit the powers of the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers. A hospital emergency director told The Associated Press that 12 people were injured, 11 of them civilians. Some protesters had tried to block lawmakers from leaving the building and threw flares and firecrackers.
The amendments passed a first reading but must still go through a parliamentary committee and return for a second vote. They would cap prison sentences at 15 years, allow sentences to be served in Kosovo rather than in a third country, and permit the Kosovo president to grant pardons. They would also subject the court's work to monitoring by international organisations, call for a constitutional review by Kosovo's Constitutional Court, and narrow the court's mandate to crimes allegedly committed from July 1, 1999 to the end of 2000. Even if passed, the changes would take effect only after the court's appeals panel rules on the case of former President Hashim Thaci and three co-defendants.
The bill was proposed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which Thaci founded. It follows the September 16 verdicts, in which Thaci and Kadri Veseli received 25 years each, with Jakup Krasniqi sentenced to 18 years and Rexhep Selimi to 13. All four are former commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the ethnic Albanian rebel force that fought Serbian troops in 1998-99. They were convicted of crimes including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder, and have denied the charges. The verdicts are to be appealed and have prompted daily protests. Kosovo's Parliament unanimously condemned them in late September.
Critics argue the court failed to apply the principle of "lex mitior", under which defendants receive the most favourable sentence available under the law at the time of the crime. They note that the maximum sentence under the law of the former Yugoslavia was 15 years.
The dispute is entangled with a political deadline. Kosovo's Constitutional Court has set a deadline for electing a president; if lawmakers fail, Parliament will be dissolved and the country faces its fourth parliamentary election in less than two years. The PDK has tied its support for a presidential vote to passage of the court amendments. Prime Minister Albin Kurti of the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party wants the presidential vote first. He allowed the bill to advance but said it was rushed, warning that Kosovo cannot defend its interests in The Hague while an institutional vacuum develops at home. He has said the appeals process should be used to challenge the convictions.
The court is a hybrid tribunal: part of Kosovo's judicial system but staffed internationally and based in The Hague. It was created in 2015 under pressure from Western allies, partly over fears of witness intimidation if trials were held in Kosovo. It remains deeply contentious, since many Kosovans regard the KLA as the force that resisted Serbian repression. The 1998-99 war killed about 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, and ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Serbia does not recognise.