Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaçi and other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders have been accused of a range of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution and torture. On 24 April 2020, the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) dealing with the period during and after the 1998-1999 Kosovo war filed the ten-count indictment with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) for the Court’s consideration. 

"The indictment is only an accusation. It is the result of a lengthy investigation and reflects the SPO's determination that it can prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt," explained the Press Statement. The announcement came when Mr Thaçi was on his way to Washington for a meeting with the US President, Donald Trump and President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia. Mr Trump had been expected to approve a deal to confirm Belgrade’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence. By making the charges public before the indictment had been confirmed, the prosecutors’ aim appeared to be to stop Mr Thaçi from signing a deal at the White House that would then make him “politically untouchable”.

Mr Thaci has denied any wrongdoing and has promised to resign immediately if a war crimes indictment filed against him is confirmed. 

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE KOSOVO WAR 

Kosovo was an autonomous province within the Republic of Serbia, within the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The ethnic make-up of Kosovo is majority Albanian with a Serb minority. Kosovo's special autonomy was ended by Slobodan Milosevic in 1989 during whose leadership widespread atrocities were committed. 

The war was fought by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). It ended after the support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the form of a 78-day humanitarian intervention. At the end of the conflict, Yugoslav and Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo. 

In February 2008, Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence was adopted. This has since elicited mixed reaction internationally and a polarised one domestically, the latter along the division of Kosovar Serbs and Albanians. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence. Serbia and Kosovo have been engaged in European Union-brokered negotiations since 2011, to normalise relations as a condition for bloc membership.

During the war, Mr Thaçi commanded fighters in the KLA and after the war, he served as prime minister and was elected president in 2016. 

STEPS TO PROSECUTING WAR CRIMES 

Following the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Report on “Inhuman treatment of people and illicit treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo” of 7 January 2011, the EU set up a Special Investigative Task Force (SITF). The latter announced that the evidence gathered through investigation was of sufficient weight to file an indictment. The SITF chief prosecutor presented his general findings in 2014, including findings on witness intimidation. 

As a result, in 2015 the KSC and SPO were established pursuant to an international agreement ratified by the Kosovo Assembly, a constitutional amendment, and the Law on Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. The Special Chambers function according to relevant Kosovo laws as well as customary international law and international human rights law. 

The United Nation’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) tried 13 people for alleged war crimes in Kosovo. Five senior Serbian or Yugoslav officials were convicted and one acquitted. The former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic died during his trial in 2006. Two ethnic Albanians were convicted and four acquitted, including former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj. The ICTY ceased operations in December 2017. 

REACTION TO THE INDICTMENT

Lotte Leicht, EU director at Human Rights Watch described the indictment as “a positive step for justice as these alleged crimes have hung over Kosovo for two decades...After years of demanding justice, victims from all ethnic groups may finally get to have their day in court...It’s also a pointed reminder that justice can reach those who once seemed beyond its reach,” she said. 

On the other hand, Jonathan Rees QC, a British barrister on the defence counsel, has argued that the “rules are crystal clear that the indictments that are filed are to be kept confidential and are not to be made public before it is confirmed by the pre-trial judge”. Rees said the court should sanction the prosecutor for breaching the rules. “The specialist chambers will have powers to prevent proceedings continuing if their fundamental fairness has been jeopardised,” he said.

Mithurja is currently a BPTC Student at City University. She was born and raised in Germany into a Sri Lankan family. She grew up seeing the horrors of the Sri Lankan Civil War on the news and feeling the need to fight such injustices worldwide. She has an LLB from Kingston University and is interested in practising at the Bar of England and Wales. Her interests revolve around international criminal law human rights laws. Mithurja represented the UK at the international rounds at the ICC in the ICC Moot Court Competition 2019.

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