PDK Secretary-General Vlora Çitaku has responded to comments by British Ambassador to Kosovo Jonathan Hargreaves regarding the recent judgment of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
Çitaku challenged Hargreaves’ characterization of the convictions as concerning “individual crimes against different communities,” arguing that, in her view, the issue is broader.
She said the proceedings in The Hague also dealt with allegations concerning the existence of a “joint criminal enterprise,” which she described as central to the significance of the judgment.
“Clearly, the respected Ambassador has neither read the indictment, followed the proceedings, nor listened to the court’s judgment,” Çitaku wrote.
“Because this is not about convictions for individual acts. The KLA has been characterized as a joint criminal enterprise. That is the essence. That is the weight of this judgment. And you cannot cover that with a diplomatic sentence,” she added.
Çitaku also criticized what she sees as the potential political interpretation of the judgment.
“Don’t try to pull the wool over our eyes. You can accept this judgment. You can relativize it. You can reduce it to four names and move on, as if nothing happened,” she wrote.
She stressed that she would not accept the Kosovo Liberation Army’s war being described in terms that, in her view, equate it with criminality.
“But we will not. We will not remain silent while our war for freedom is described in the language of criminality. We will not accept our history being rewritten for anyone’s political convenience. No. Not in my name,” Çitaku said.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, however, states that its mandate is to establish the individual criminal responsibility of accused persons and that it does not hold an ethnic group, organization or community responsible. The court has also said that its proceedings concern individual accountability for crimes proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The British government has likewise said that the September 16 judgment concerns the individuals convicted and should not be interpreted as a judgment on Kosovo’s statehood, sovereignty or right to determine its future.
