Prime Minister Albin Kurti has pledged that the Government of Kosovo will support the defense lawyers representing the four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in their appeals before the Specialist Chambers in The Hague, after they were sentenced to a combined 81 years in prison at first instance.
Asked by an Albanian student during his visit to the United States what the strategy would be, Kurti said the state could have done more if there had been a single defense team representing all four.
“The state of Kosovo could have done more if there had been one joint team for the four KLA leaders. But that did not happen,” he said, according to a video published by VOX Kosova.
“Each of the KLA leaders had their own defense lawyer, their own team. So we had four different teams. And it is quite difficult for the Government to get involved when you have four different teams,” Kurti said.
The head of the Kosovo Government also recalled that he himself did not recognize the Serbian court when he was put on trial, but said the lawyers representing the former KLA leaders “had a different position.”
“You know me very well. I did not recognize the Serbian court or UNMIK when I was put on trial,” Kurti said.
“The defense lawyers of the four KLA leaders had a different position. They believed that by working closely with the Specialist Chambers, they would achieve a positive outcome,” Kurti said.
The Albanian student, Anisë Murseli, who asked the question, referred to the example of Croatia and the support provided by the Croatian state to its former military leaders.
“You mentioned strategy rather than an emotional reaction. I think we have a good example to look at, which is the situation in Croatia in 2011, when General Ante Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years in prison. And between that moment and the appeals, the Croatian government did a lot to support them.
“This included increasing financial support, which has been an issue in Kosovo’s case. Many lawyers actually withdrew because of the lack of financial support from our government, as well as conducting academic research into the judgment, offering for the Croatian government itself to act as an amicus curiae and as a kind of witness before the court, and directly submitting its own evidence.
“It also included creating mechanisms to ensure that evidence was not falsified and so on. These are all things that we can do and consider. And it seems that there is a strategy that we could follow. What concrete steps are you taking now?” she asked.
“It has been four days. It seems that we are in a crisis. There are protests in Prishtina. This is extremely important for our history, for the KLA, and you are not only the prime minister of your party. You are the prime minister of the entire country. And many people in your country are now extremely concerned about the situation,” the student added.
