Police have clashed with protesters outside Kosovo’s Parliament over plans to limit the powers of a Hague-based war crimes court. The violence broke out on Monday evening after Parliament ended its session without passing the proposed changes, which concerned the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a court dedicated to crimes committed during the Kosovo War from 1998 to 2000. Founded in 2015, the court is an independent part of Kosovo’s judicial system, based in The Hague and staffed internationally.
Critics, however, have accused the court’s verdicts of being overly punitive. The amendments before Parliament would limit sentences to 15 years, allow sentences to be served in Kosovo and permit appeals to the country’s Supreme Court. The changes has passed a first reading earlier on Monday, but Parliament adjourned before a second vote could be held.
Several hundred protesters had gathered outside the Parliament building in Pristina, including supporters and veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the ethnic Albanian guerrilla force that fought Serbian troops in the war. Some tried to block lawmakers from leaving after the session ended. Police used tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to disperse the protesters, some of whom threw flares and firecrackers.
Naser Syla, the emergency director at a hospital in Pristina, told The news agency that 12 people were injured, including 11 civilians. The legislation follows the September 16 convictions of former President Hashim Thaci and three other former KLA commanders for war crimes. Thaci was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
His co-defendants received prison terms ranging from 13 to 25 years. They have all denied the charges. The rulings prompted weeks of protests and were unanimously condemned by Kosovo’s Parliament in late September.
The question of reforming the court has also become tied to the political battle over the country’s presidency. Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the country has until October 6 to elect a president. If lawmakers fail to do so, Parliament will be dissolved and Kosovo will face another early election.
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