Pristina urged by EU to form Special Court

Pristina urged by EU to form Special Court

According to the paper, the message for Pristina from Brussels is that "the EU has provided support to the Kosovo authorities, while it is now up to them to complete the process of the formation of the court."

"The European Union has offered all necessary assistance to the Kosovo authorities in a timely manner, related to the constitutional amendments and the necessary legislation," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic has been quoted as saying.

However, both Koha Ditore and another Pristina-based daily, Zeri, "suggest that a reason the (assembly) meeting and debate has been postponed is that the ruling coalition is having problems mustering a two-third majority required for the adoption of this decision."

Deputies of the Democratic Party of Kosovo have announced that they would not vote in favor of the decision to form the court after several members of KLA's "Drenica Group" were recently sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison for the crimes committed against ethnic Albanians.

Radio Free Europe has been quoted as reporting that "MPs of the majority Albanian community do not find only the technical procedures of the processing of the draft Law on the Special Court for War Crimes contentious, but also the content of the act, which mentions the term 'genocide', which has led to disagreements among MPs."

The Kosovo government is "negotiating about this law with legal representatives of the EU and it is expected that MPs will vote on it after the assembly adopts constitutional amendments for the establishment of the Special Court."

The Special Court should deal with the allegations from a 2010 report of the Council of Europe about the trafficking in human organs harvested from Serb civilians in 1999 and 2000, something that the KLA is blamed for.

The assembly of Kosovo on Friday postponed a session called to discuss the amendments necessary to set up the court, "on the grounds that a more precise translation of the law should be awaited," Beta said. The opposition is against the formation of the court, while the ruling PDK and the Democratic League of Kosovo are "trying to get votes for the adoption of the amendments and the law."

The EU has committed to pay for all the costs of the formation of the court, including the salaries of its international staff. The Kosovo government previously stated that it will take responsibility for covering the costs of the defense of those accused before the court, "but a part of the public considers this idea unacceptable, because it is unacceptable for anyone to defend themselves using the money of citizens of Kosovo" - the agency reported.