KLA-fighters-sentence – Albanian Telegraphic Agency.

Former EULEX Prosecutor: Four Former KLA Leaders could be pardoned by Presidential Decree, as Trump has done

Sonila Mehmeti — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:48:04 +0000

TIRANA, Sept 30 /ATA/ Former EULEX prosecutor Maria Bamieh, speaking in an interview with Klan News, commented on the Special Court’s decision, which sentenced four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders to a combined 81 years in prison.

Bamieh was circumspect in her assessment of the ruling, stressing that she had no direct access to the evidence presented during the proceedings.

The former EULEX prosecutor also raised concerns about the principle of equality before the law. In her view, the Special Court was not a well-conceived institution, a position she said she had also expressed back in 2014.

She stressed that she could not make a definitive assessment of their guilt or innocence, as she had neither reviewed the evidence nor heard the witnesses or the defence’s arguments.

Bamieh also spoke about her seven years of experience with EULEX, referring to the challenges involved in planning and implementing the mission, including the situation in Mitrovica.

Bamieh questioned the Special Court’s ruling and its establishment, saying she could not assess the defendants’ guilt or innocence because she had not reviewed the evidence or heard the witnesses and defence arguments. She also criticised EULEX’s planning and implementation, citing shortcomings in its preparations for dealing with Mitrovica.

The former EULEX prosecutor reiterated her criticism of the Special Court, claiming that it had been established to prosecute members of only one nationality. She declined to offer advice on how the defence teams of the four former KLA leaders should proceed with their appeals.

“It is difficult for me to say what they should do because I do not know the evidence. This Special Court was established to try people of only one nationality,” she said.

Asked whether the four former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders could be pardoned by a presidential decree from Kosovo’s president, the former prosecutor said this would certainly be possible, citing US President Donald Trump as an example of a leader who has taken such action.

“Of course it is possible. Donald Trump does it all the time. But it would not look good. It is better to be acquitted than to be pardoned by someone,” she said.

/TVKLAN/sm/