EU Office supports Vjosa Osmani’s request addressed to Special Court

Gazeta Express

19/09/2020 15:31

The EU Office in Kosovo has reacted after Speaker of Parliament, Vjosa Osmani, Thursday sent a letter to Ekaterina Trendafilova, the president of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers at the Hague, referring a constitutional amendment proposed by country’s president Hashim Thaci, related to the mandate of the Hague-based court commonly known in Kosovo as the Special Court.

The EU Office said that Osmani’s request on the proposed amendment is in compliance with the Law. “We have repeatedly expressed our expectation that Kosovo authorities uphold their commitment to the rule of law and to the mandate of the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. The decision taken by the Assembly Speaker to refer the proposed constitutional amendment to the Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court is fully consistent with the provisions enshrined in the Constitution and the Law,” the EU Office in Kosovo statement reads.

In August Kosovo president Thaci addressed a letter to the Assembly of Kosovo proposing amendment of the Constitution proposing extension of the mandate of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO). Thaci said that he had informed the Parliament that the mandate of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office will last until the Council of the European Union decides to end it.

Speaker Osmani Friday referred Thaci’s proposal to the President of the KSC asking the proposed amendment on extension of the mandate of this Court to be forwarded to the Specialist Chambers of the Constitutional Court for prior assessment. “I would be grateful if this proposed amendment will be referred to the Specialist Chambers of the Constitutional Court, in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo and the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) for prior assessment that the proposed amendment does not diminish any of the rights and freedoms set forth in Chapter II of the Constitution,” Osmani wrote on her letter.

Based on the initial amendment of the Constitution of Kosovo, enabling the establishment of the KSC and SPO, the five-year mandate of this institution had expired in August 2020. However in the Law on ratification of international agreements  between Kosovo and the European Union, it is stated that the mandate of this Court will end only when the Council of the European Union informs Kosovo institutions that the investigations have been concluded and that any proceedings by the Specialist Chambers are finished. The Special Court officials have not commented on President’s initiative on extension of the Court’s mandate. But officials of the KSC in an answer to Radio Free Europe (RFE) last year have stated that “no formalities or specific actions are required” to extend the mandate of the court. Kosovo president, who himself is the subject of prosecution by this court for his role as political representative of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during 1998-1999 war, said in August that he hopes MPs will support his request. /GazetaExpress/