The Special Court should not have been established, and therefore it is good that protests are taking place, says the former Dutch ambassador to Kosovo, Robert Bosch, just hours before veterans and other citizens gather in Prishtina to express their opposition to the way the Specialist Chambers in The Hague are working. In an interview with ​KosovaPress from The Hague, Bosch emphasizes that the protest should be peaceful and dignified.

The Specialist Chambers, which investigate alleged crimes committed by members of the KLA, are based in the Netherlands and operate with international staff, even though they were established by Kosovo laws in 2015. Former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi are being tried there.

All have pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. The trial against them began in April 2023, but they have been in pre-trial detention since November 2020.

Recently, it was reported that the Special Court accepted documents as evidence from Serbia, which has only increased reactions in Kosovo against a court that has been continuously criticized for bias and lack of transparency.

The KLA War Veterans Organization is gathering former fighters and other citizens today at 17:00 in Prishtina for a protest they say they are organizing against the injustice they believe the Specialist Chambers in The Hague are committing.

For the former Dutch ambassador to Kosovo, such protests should take place.

“First of all, I think it is good to have a protest, as long as it is done with dignity, without violence and without bad slogans. But the fact that there is a protest is certainly acceptable, because what is happening slowly but surely has become ridiculous. This court is really non-transparent. No one knows what it is doing. It is supposed to be a court of Kosovo, and no Kosovar is allowed there except for the accused. So it is a bit strange for a court of Kosovo. It costs an extraordinary amount of money,” says the former Dutch diplomat.

Bosch emphasizes that the process of establishing this court should have been stopped at the beginning when the allegations of organ trafficking were dismissed.

“Yes, it should never have been established because it was created because of the organ trafficking allegations. But when Williamson, after investigations, concluded that there was no organ trafficking at all, that it was a story fabricated by the Serbs, then it certainly should have been stopped, because that was the only reason this court was created. So it is very strange that it continued nonetheless. And now these people are in prison, I don’t know how many years it has been already. It is certainly ridiculous. It should have stopped then. And if anything, people should have been tried in Kosovo,” he says.

The so-called big trial in The Hague – the process against Thaçi and others – is approaching its end. The Prosecution has closed its case, and defense witnesses are expected to be heard by mid-September.

The SPO accuses them of being part of a “joint criminal enterprise.” The lawyers rejected all the accusations and argued that the KLA did not have an organized command structure.

“In any case, it should not have been established. And for that reason, it is certainly good to protest. It is also very wrong to call the KLA a criminal organization because it certainly is not. I was also personally involved during the Kosovo war. And at that time, the KLA were our feet on the ground, as we had no people on the ground. They were working for us, for NATO. And I know this because I was involved. So to say now that they are a criminal organization means that we worked with a criminal organization, NATO. Anyway, I hope the protest will be dignified, peaceful, but people should certainly see that this matter should come to an end,” says former ambassador Bosch.

The Specialist Chambers, publicly known as the Special Court, are financed by the European Union but also with contributions from other countries including the United States, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, and Turkey.

Bosch emphasizes the need for the US administration to get involved with the issue of the Special Court.

Bosch: Americans should take the Special Court issue seriously

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“The internationals have decided something. And yes, they made a wrong decision. And they will not easily admit that they made a wrong decision. The only way this can have an impact is if Mr. Trump says something, because I heard that Mr. Grenell also said once that this court is ridiculous. So they are the only ones who can really say that this court should be stopped. And for that reason, certainly, protests can be good. But it has to be the Americans who pick it up,” adds Bosch.

Besides Thaçi and others, other cases of alleged war crimes have also been held in The Hague, with guilty verdicts issued against Salih Mustafa and Pjetër Shala. The Special Court has also handled cases of obstruction of justice. Even former President Hashim Thaçi has been indicted with new allegations that he tried to obstruct justice.