Trendafilova defends Specialist Chambers' independence
In a video message, the court's president says it works free of political influence. The DPK wants the new law applied, and Fatmir Limaj sees the message as the first effect of the amendments.
Ekaterina Trendafilova, president of the Specialist Chambers in The Hague, rejected claims in a video message that the court operates under outside influence. She spoke after the Kosovo Assembly voted for amendments to the law on the court, and her message drew reactions from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK), the NISMA party and the KLA War Veterans Organization.
The amendments were adopted after the verdict against former KLA commanders in The Hague. According to RTS, Hashim Taci and three other former commanders of that formation were sentenced to a combined 81 years in prison, and demonstrations followed in several Kosovo towns.
What did Trendafilova say?
The president of the Specialist Chambers said the court faces disinformation about its independence and work. The chambers’ mandate, she said, derives from the exchange of letters, the Kosovo Constitution and the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. Judges come from European Union member states and from countries that contribute to the court’s work, and they must have high moral character, impartiality and integrity.
Trendafilova also pointed to the ways verdicts can be challenged. Decisions can be appealed before the Court of Appeals Panel and the Supreme Court Panel, and defendants can turn to the Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court if they believe their rights were violated. She says the defendants used those remedies and succeeded in several judgments.
The core of the message concerns criticism of court rulings:
“While criticism of judicial decisions is a legitimate feature of a democratic society, the rule of law requires that no one can dictate how judges interpret and apply the law,” Trendafilova said in the video message.
She closed the message, in the English original, by saying the Specialist Chambers carry out their mandate “without political considerations, bias, influence or interference,” as an independent judicial institution.
What do the DPK, NISMA and KLA veterans say?
Perparim Gruda, a DPK lawmaker, wrote on social media that the court does not choose which law it applies: the Assembly adopts laws, and the court interprets and applies them. He concluded:
“Therefore, as soon as the new law on the Special Court enters into force, the Court must apply it.”
That sentence implies that, by Gruda’s account, the law has not yet taken effect.
Vljora Citaku, DPK general secretary and Deputy Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, assessed that under Trendafilova’s leadership the Specialist Chambers have undermined trust in the judiciary. She said:
“An unfair process, a lack of transparency, insufficient accountability and serious oversight failures. The concern of international experts over equality of arms, human rights violations and independent monitoring demands concrete answers.”
In a public statement, the KLA War Veterans Organization recalled that laws in Kosovo are made by the Assembly. A court the Assembly established, the statement says, cannot hold power over the institution that created it. The organization added that Trendafilova cannot lecture the Assembly on the rule of law and called that arrogance. The veterans describe criticism of court rulings as their legitimate right and say they will not give it up.
Fatmir Limaj, NISMA leader, called Trendafilova’s message a positive step. On the show “FIVE” on Dukagjini television, he said the court president did not comment on the content of the new law but on the legal basis on which the court operates, and that she knows she has no authority to interpret the Assembly’s laws. He then explained why he sees an effect of the amendments in the message:
“For me, the very fact that she was forced to come out and give some explanations is a positive step. Regardless of what she said, it shows the first effects of the law, because for years they have been marked by arrogance, a lack of communication and a lack of transparency, as you know. They considered it necessary to speak in offices rather than address the citizens of Kosovo, in whose name they judge and work,” the NISMA leader said.
How did the international community address the same dispute?
The mandate of the Specialist Chambers also came up at the UN Security Council, at a session on Kosovo that reviewed the six-month report of UNMIK and EULEX. UNMIK head Peter Due criticized Pristina’s attempts to reduce the jurisdiction of the chambers in The Hague and said that confronting the past is the key to the region’s future.
Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the European Union delegation to the UN, faulted Pristina for trying to change the chambers’ mandate through amendments to the law. He said:
“This does not represent the fulfillment of international obligations.”
The deputy French ambassador to the UN took the same position. Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya accused the authorities in Pristina of “legal manipulations” aimed at changing the verdicts against four former KLA leaders, and Serbia’s foreign minister Marko Djuric condemned the amendments through which Pristina seeks to limit the chambers’ mandate.
So far, this much is clear: the Kosovo Assembly voted for the amendments, Gruda speaks about the moment the law enters into force, and Limaj claims that Trendafilova did not comment on its content in her message.
