Tomorrow and the day after, Pristina will host the largest conference ever organized on transitional justice and international courts related to the Kosovo war, with a particular focus on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers.
On the eve of Kosovo’s Liberation Day, on June 10 and 11, the event will be one of the main gatherings dedicated to the Specialist Chambers and transitional justice mechanisms. Among dozens of prominent participants are several international figures who have voiced strong criticism of the proceedings at the Specialist Chambers in The Hague, where the trial of former KLA founders and leaders, including Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi, has been ongoing for nearly six years, KosovaPress reports.
Speakers in various panel discussions will include Daan Everts, former head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo; Sir Geoffrey Nice, former prosecutor in the case against Slobodan Milosevic at the Hague Tribunal; Robert Bosch, former Dutch Ambassador to Kosovo; Nevenka Tromp, former researcher at the Hague Tribunal; and many other figures who have publicly expressed strong criticism of the Specialist Chambers in the past.
The conference will also feature discussions on the role of the media in transitional justice, with contributions from renowned journalists including Tim Judah, correspondent for The Economist; author Ana Di Lellio; and Dan Perry, former Europe editor of the Associated Press, among others.
Panelists will also include former foreign ministers of Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo — Gent Cakaj, Bujar Osmani, and Petrit Selimi, respectively — as well as former British minister Denis MacShane and former Canadian minister Ross Reid, who also served as director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) office in Kosovo.
Noted historian Jason Steinhauer will also deliver a presentation on social media disinformation and its impact on historical interpretation.
The conference, described as the largest ever held on international courts that have adjudicated matters related to the Kosovo war, is being organized by the civil society organizations “Freedom Has a Name” and KIPRED.
