#KOSOVO THREAD:

First court appearance today of former President Hashim Thaci, charged with 3 other senior KLA leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

1/10
https://balkaninsight.com/2020/11/09/kosovo-ex-president-thaci-pleads-not-guilty-to-war-crimes/

The case before the Hague-based special court marks a crucial step for justice and the rule of law – in #Kosovo and beyond.

Victims, survivors, and their families may now finally learn the truth and get justice.

2/10

Two steps are essential now:

1) Ensure robust witness protection, which has undermined so many #Kosovo cases in the past; and

2) Fair trials as soon as possible with the defendants enjoying due process rights.

3/10 https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/25/kosovo-war-crimes-indictment-advances-justice

Critics of the court portray it as a one-sided, anti-Albanian effort.

But charges include the detention and murder of ethnic Albanians. And many of the Serbian and Roma victims went missing after the war, so unrelated to hostilities.

4/10
https://repository.scp-ks.org/details.php?doc_id=091ec6e98037f115&doc_type=stl_filing_annex&lang=eng

None of this detracts from the well-documented reality that the overwhelming number of #warcrimes in #Kosovo were committed by Serbian and Yugoslav forces.

For that, justice has been shamefully weak.

In #Serbia, convicted war criminals are hailed as heroes.

5/10

Read @HRW’s omnibus report on the #Kosovo conflict, also available in Albanian and Serbian:

6/10
https://www.hrw.org/report/2001/10/27/under-orders/war-crimes-kosovo

Critics also confuse, purposefully or out of misunderstanding, the difference between jus ad bellum (laws of aggression) and jus in bello (laws of war).

Whatever one thinks about the KLA’s right or reason to fight, the rules of how one fights apply to all sides.

#Kosovo
7/10

#Albania PM @ediramaal should know this & stop slandering the #EU & #US backed court as an assault on the “inviolable justice of the liberation war”

This court has indicted individuals for alleged crimes, not a movement, an armed group or a cause. Why is he defending them?

8/10

Attempts by #Albania's PM @ediramaal to use the #Kosovo court as a weapon against the #Albania opposition are shameful and misguided – an insult to victims.

9/10

#Kosovo is setting an example for its cooperation with the special court.

May #Serbia, #Croatia and #Bosnia also commit to prosecuting all #warcrimes vigorously, no matter the perpetrator.

Let the special court spark a renewed push for justice in West Balkans.

10/10