Prishtinë, May 31, 2024
The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo expresses deep indignation at Prime Minister Kurti’s continuous unproductive approach to the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, regarding war crimes cases.
The Special Prosecution strongly emphasizes that the constant comments of the Prime Minister of Kosovo about the work of the Special Prosecution are in complete contradiction with the constitutional principles of the separation of powers and international standards for the independence of the Judiciary. Therefore, as such, they undermine public confidence in the work of the State Prosecution in general and the Special Prosecution in particular.
The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo informs the public opinion that in the last five years, since the time when this prosecution took over the powers to investigate war crimes, it has done extremely great work in full cooperation with law enforcement institutions. Moreover, this was done with insufficient human resources, professional and financial capacities, as a result of the insufficient budget. KPC brings to the attention of public opinion that in the last 20 years, the full budget request (up to 100% of the request) has never been approved.
Also, the legal framework for the investigation of war crimes has changed a lot in the last five years. This change has presented a challenge to an efficient and effective process in the investigation of war crimes. Other countries in the region do not have this challenge. States such as Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have adopted national strategies at the level of their governments and parliaments to address war crimes. We still do not have such a strategy at the national level.
Despite this, with the initiative of the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council has approved the War Crimes Strategy, on the basis of which the investigations of war crimes are being carried out.
Even with these insufficient resources, both legal and financial, we inform the public opinion that the Special Prosecution currently has registered a total of 60 indictments for war crimes for 56 cases, against 165 persons.
We also inform you that the procedure for the advancement of prosecutors has been completed by the Prosecutorial Council and starting from June 1, 2024, two (2) prosecutors will be added to the War Crimes Investigation Department in the Special Prosecution, where the total number of prosecutors in this department will be five (5), who will deal exclusively with the investigation of war crimes.
The Special Prosecution made a public appeal to the Prime Minister and any other state official to avoid public statements, which do not coincide with the real situation, and invites citizens to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies, so that all those individuals who have committed criminal offenses of the war to be brought to justice.
War crimes do not have a statute of limitations, so we will not stop working on all the cases we have linked to these criminal acts