Professor at Johns Hopkins University, Sinisa Vuković, says that the long-term consequences for Kosovo from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers “are and remain profound.”
The process – marred by a thousand and one dilemmas, including evidence tainted by origins from Serbian state security organs – risks being a potential source of “miscarriage of justice.”
Vuković notes that Kosovo’s “foundational narrative” of statehood could be challenged.
“The long-term implications for Kosovo are and remain profound, as they may challenge the foundational narrative of Kosovo,” he told Nacionale. “It is now clear that by prosecuting the leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the trials complicate the fundamental narrative of heroic liberation, which for any post-conflict society can become a deeply polarizing dynamic.”
He added that the trials risk “creating a significant leadership vacuum, fostering political instability, and weakening Kosovo’s position in critical international negotiations.”
The problem is further worsened, according to him, by what many in Kosovo see as one-sided justice.
“These consequences are amplified by a widespread perception of selective justice, as the court’s exclusive focus on the KLA fuels discontent and undermines trust in the justice of international law,” he said.
