Former Albanian Foreign Minister Paskal Milo has stated that the responsibility for the prosecution of former UÇK commanders in The Hague does not lie solely with Serbia, but also with the international community and major political actors.
Milo highlighted that Serbia conducted an intense and costly campaign to accuse the UÇK, yet the decisive factor was the pressure exerted by the European Union and the United States on the Kosovo Parliament to approve the creation of the Special Court. According to him, the political dimension and consequences of this pressure may not have been fully understood at the time.
He emphasized that the establishment of the Special Court was a political decision, which later gained independence and became difficult to control or halt. Milo also questioned the double standards of international actors, pointing out that even the United States has not ratified the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, while major states have sometimes ignored international court rulings.
Milo explained that the Special Court was intended to maintain balance — ensuring that prosecutions did not target only Serbian leaders but also included several UÇK members — in order to present an image of impartiality to the public.
Key Quote from Milo:
“Responsibility does not lie solely with Serbia. The international community and major actors, including the EU and the U.S., also bear responsibility because they pressured Kosovo’s Parliament to approve the Special Court. What followed was a political decision leading to a court with independence that is difficult to control. Interests, politics, and geopolitics are all at play, and the system impacts how justice is administered.”
