PRISHTINA, Sept 28 /ATA/ – Kosovo’s newly elected parliament adopted a declaration on Monday concerning the verdict by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague against four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders.
Parliament Speaker Albulena Haxhiu read the declaration, which was agreed by the Vetevendosje, Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and Multiethnic Parliamentary Group. It was approved by 99 votes, with none against or abstaining.
Parliament later elected PDK lawmaker Vlora Citaku as deputy speaker and appointed members of its parliamentary committees.
Last week, the PDK proposed amendments to the law governing the Specialist Chambers following the sentencing of former KLA leaders Hashim Thaci, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi to a combined 81 years in prison.
The proposal would limit the court’s jurisdiction to offences cited in a 2011 report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, including allegations of post-war organ trafficking.
It would also shorten the period covered by the court from January 1998-December 2000 to July 1, 1999-December 2000, cap prison sentences at 15 years, allow sentences to be served in Kosovo and make convicted persons eligible for a presidential pardon.
The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo has backed the proposal, while Vetevendosje, which leads the government, has said it will first review it from a legal perspective. The LDK has not yet taken an official position.
On Sept. 16, the Specialist Chambers sentenced Thaci and Krasniqi to 25 years in prison each, Veseli to 18 years and Selimi to 13 years. The first-instance verdicts can be appealed.
Protests have been held nightly in Pristina since the verdicts, with demonstrators opposing the sentences handed down to the former KLA leaders.
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