The Kosovo Assembly has approved with 99 votes in favor, none against and no abstentions the statement regarding the verdict of the Specialist Chambers in The Hague against former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.
The statement was read out in the session by the Speaker of the Assembly, Albulena Haxhiu, who announced that the text had been harmonized among the parliamentary groups. Haxhiu assessed the approval as a common position of the Assembly regarding the verdict.
In the document, the Assembly expresses deep concern about the first-instance verdict against Thaçi, Veseli, Selim and Krasniqi and considers the trial panel's conclusion on the existence of a "common criminal intent" unacceptable.
Through the declaration, the Assembly calls on Kosovo institutions to take the necessary actions to protect what it considers to be the truth and purity of the liberation war. It also calls for the drafting of a joint state strategy to coordinate legal, institutional and diplomatic actions regarding this issue.
In another point of the statement, the Assembly calls on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague to respect their mandate, while opposing any attempt that, according to the document, would question the historical truth of the Kosovo war or would equate KLA fighters with the regime that exercised repression in Kosovo.
Statement points:
1. The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, as the representative institution of citizens and an expression of their democratic will, expresses its deep concern over the first instance verdict against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selim and Jakup Krasniqi.
2. Considers the conclusion about the existence of a common criminal intent as unacceptable.
3. REQUESTS all state institutions of the Republic of Kosovo to take all necessary actions to protect the truth and purity of the liberation war of the people of Kosovo. The Assembly calls for the drafting of a common state strategy, within the framework of which legal, institutional and diplomatic actions should be coordinated for the protection and affirmation of the full historical truth about the just war for freedom and liberation of Kosovo.
4. In Kosovo in 1998–1999, the existence of a joint criminal enterprise for the expulsion of Albanians from Kosovo has already been proven by the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia against the political, military and police leaders of Yugoslavia and Serbia. It was implemented through the structures of a state that had the army, police and other means of power under its control. This is the historical and judicial context that must remain clear whenever the war in Kosovo is discussed.
5. Requests the Specialist Chambers to respect the mandate in accordance with the will of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo.
6. OPPOSES any attempt to subvert the historical truth of Kosovo, to question its liberation war, or to equate the people who fought for freedom and survival with the regime that oppressed them.
7. The truth of the liberation war, justice for the victims and their families, and the right of the convicted to a fair trial belong to the same Republic. The Assembly will defend all three without compromise.
