Kosovo KLA Veterans Set Sunday Deadline, Rally in Pristina
KLA veterans have called a rally outside the Assembly in Pristina on Monday at 12:00, a day before the deadline to elect Kosovo's president runs out.
The organization of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) veterans said on Saturday, October 3, after a meeting between Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader Bedri Hamza, that the deadline for the parties to agree on amendments to the Law on Specialist Chambers is Sunday, October 4. If there is no deal, the veterans will step up their activities from Monday, and they have called on citizens to gather outside the Assembly in Pristina on October 5 from 12:00.
The date is no accident. The constitutional deadline for electing Kosovo’s president expires on Tuesday, October 6. If a president is not elected by then, the Assembly is dissolved and elections must be held within 45 days.
What are the veterans telling Kurti?
The organization accused the prime minister of “political calculations” and “political and procedural games”. Its statement calls on citizens to gather, and it explains the deadline and the threat of tougher action this way:
“The categories that emerged from the KLA war are deeply embittered by the attitude of Mr. Kurti, who is making political calculations even with the pain, sacrifice and dignity of citizens. The deadline for reaching a political and procedural agreement that would allow an urgent vote in both readings on the additions and amendments to the Law on Specialist Chambers for KLA veterans is only until tomorrow, Sunday. If there is no agreement by tomorrow, KLA veterans will step up their activities from Monday.”
The statement does not say what those activities will be. The call to gather on Monday adds that “patience is running out” and that the veterans want to express their dissatisfaction with the “irresponsible attitude of the authorities”.
What did the eighteenth night of protests look like?
The “Not in My Name” protest was held for the 18th evening in a row on Saturday. It started at 19:00 on Skanderbeg Square, and those gathered carried banners and KLA symbols and chanted “Vote for the law”. This time the route led only to the Assembly, without the Ministry of Justice, where demonstrators had gone on previous evenings. Outside one of the entrances to the building, they read out the names of the members of parliament one by one and urged them to vote for the amendments.
Protest organizer Cljirim Haziri addressed the crowd:
“Our national identity is on the table of this Assembly today. The blood of our martyrs and of the KLA is on the table of this Assembly today. We came here today to tell them: vote for the law.”
Haziri also demanded that the law not be used in talks about the president, saying: “Kosovo will not have a president elected with the KLA.”
The protests have been held every day since September 16, when the Specialist Chambers in The Hague handed down first-instance verdicts sentencing Hashim Thaci and Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years in prison each, Kadri Veseli to 18 and Rexhep Selimi to 13, 81 years in total.
Why is the law tied to the election of the president?
After the verdict, the PDK sent in an initiative to amend the law, and after Saturday’s meeting Hamza repeats that his lawmakers will vote for a president only once the amendments are adopted. The proposal narrows the court’s temporal jurisdiction: instead of the period from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2000, the court would try offenses committed from July 1, 1999 to December 31, 2000. The government in Pristina approved the initiative on Friday evening and judged that it does not conflict with the law.
According to Gazeta Express, as cited by KoSSev, Kurti proposed a different order: first reading of the amendments, then the election of the president, then the second reading. Hamza reportedly did not accept this. The other side has not independently confirmed these claims. We reported earlier on the previous Kurti-Hamza talks that ended without a deal and on the PDK’s request for an Assembly session.
Pressure from the street is not new. Gazmend Sulja, vice president of the KLA Veterans Organization, warned of this turn of events earlier at a press conference:
“If that does not happen, of course we will take action, and we will go out on the streets, and we will give everyone in the institutions a chance to express themselves before that date.”
So Kurti and Hamza have until Monday at 12:00 to strike a deal. After the rally outside the Assembly, one more day remains before the deadline to elect a president.
