Bosch in support of protest: Special Court is non-transparent, should not be founded

The specialist, who investigates the alleged crimes of KLA members, has headquarters in the Netherlands and operates with international staff, even though founded on Kosovo laws in 2015. Former KLA leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselin, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi are being tried there.

All have been acquitted of charges that the Specialised Prosecutor's Office has placed upon them. The trial against them began in April 2023, but they have been in custody since November 2020.

Recently, it has been reported that the Special Court has accepted documents as evidence from Serbia, and that has only increased the response in Kosovo to a court constantly criticised for bias and not transparency.

The KLA war veterans' organisation gathers soldiers and other citizens at five o'clock today at a protest in Pristina, which it has said is organising against the injustice it estimates is making the Special Court in The Hague.

For the former Dutch ambassador to Kosovo, such protests must be held.

And first of all, I think it's good to have a protest, as long as it's done with dignity, no violence and no bad slogans. But the fact that there's a protest is, of course, something acceptable, because what's going on slowly but it's certainly getting ridiculous. This court is totally nontransparent. Nobody knows what you're doing. It is supposed to be a Kosovo court, and no Kosovar is allowed to be there except the accused. So it's a little weird for a Kosovo court. It costs an extraordinary amount of money”, the former Dutch diplomat says.

Bosch emphasises that the process of establishing this court has had to stop from the very beginning when claims of organ trafficking were dropped.

And, yes, it wasn't supposed to be founded at all because it was founded because of this organ trafficking. But when Wilson, after the investigation, decided and saw that there was no organ trafficking, that it was a story invented by Serbs, then he probably had to stop, because that was the only reason this court was created. So it's very strange that it went on anyway. And now these people are in prison, I don't know how many years they've been. It's, of course, ridiculous. He should have stopped by then. And if there is anything, people had to be tried in Kosovo”, he said, in an interview for Kosovo Press.

The one known as the grand trial at The Hague, the process against Thaci and others, is towards the end. The prosecution has closed its case, while defence witnesses are expected to be heard by mid-September.

The SPS, which charges them with alleged war crimes, has said former KLA superiors have been part of a joint criminal enterprise”. Lawyers dismissed all charges and argued that the KLA had no organised command structure.

“Anyway, it wasn't supposed to be founded [Pecial Court]. And for that reason, of course, it's good to protest. It's also very wrong to call it The NLA is a criminal organization, because, of course, it's not. But I was also personally involved during the Kosovo war.
And at that time, The KLA was our feet on the ground, because we didn't have people on the ground. They worked for us, for NATO. And I know that because I was involved. So to say now that they're a criminal organization, then we've worked with a criminal organization, [we] NATO. Anyway, I hope that the protests will, again, be dignified, peaceful, but that people should, of course, see that this issue must end”, says former Ambassador Bosch.

Specialised rooms, known in public as the Special Court, are financed by the European Union, but with contributions from other countries, among them the United States, Norway, Switzerland, Canada and Turkey.

Bosch stresses the need for the US administration to handle the special court case.

The internationals have decided something. And, yes, they made a wrong decision. And they will not readily admit that they have made a wrong decision. The only way this can affect is if Mr. Trump says something because I've heard that Mr. Green once said this court was ridiculous. So they're the only ones who can really say this court should be stopped. And for that reason, of course, protest can be good. But it must be Americans who take this matter seriously”, Bosch adds.

In addition to Thaci and others, other cases of alleged war crimes have been held in The Hague and guilty acts of guilt against Peter Shala's Salih Mustaf. The specialist has also dealt with cases of obstruction of justice. In fact, a new indictment has been filed against former President Hashim Thaci, claiming he has attempted to undermine justice. /Periscope/