After violent clashes on Monday night, protesters started to reassemble in Pristina to demand legal changes to curb the powers of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court following convictions of guerrilla leaders.
An ambulance going to the protest in Pristina as protesters burn garbage bins and police use tear gas to disperse them, October 5, 2026. Photo: Denis Sllovinja/BIRN.
Protesters led by the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans’ Organisation started to reassemble outside parliament in Pristina on Tuesday after violent clashes the previous evening.
Angered by the convictions of four wartime KLA
Angered by the convictions of four wartime KLA leaders including ex-President Hashim Thaci, they want MPs to pass legislation limiting the powers of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court.
MPs on Monday voted to amend the law on the Hague-based court, which is part of Kosovo’s justice system, to say it may not impose jail sentences exceeding 15 years. But the amendment still needs a parliamentary committee review before it can return for a second reading.
After the parliamentary session ended, protesters demanded MPs vote on a second reading the same day. They blocked MPs from leaving the chamber and forcibly pushed ruling Vetevendosje party MP Fahrush Rexhepi back inside the parliament’s perimeter.
They then burned garbage bins and threw fireworks
They then burned garbage bins and threw fireworks and explosives at the government building, but without damaging it. Clirim Haziri, organiser of the “Not in My Name” protest, declared that no MP would leave “without stepping over our bodies”.
Police said three persons were arrested and six police officers were injured. Naser Syla, from the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, on Monday evening said 12 people had received medical assistance, including one police officer.
Peaceful protests have been continuing since the Specialist Chambers issued a first-instance verdict convicting the four former KLA leaders of war crimes on September 16.
The so-called special court sentenced former Kosovo President
The so-called special court sentenced former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former leaders of the KLA, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi, to 25, 25 18 and 13 years in prison respectively for war crimes.
They were found guilty of arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder from April 1998 to June 20, 1999, in Kosovo and several locations in Albania.
Other amendments passed on Monday include for the jail sentences to be served in Kosovo. Based on the current law, “the Specialist Chambers may order the transfer of a convicted person to a third country for service of his or her sentence of imprisonment”.
They also allow for Kosovo’s President to grant
They also allow for Kosovo’s President to grant pardons, for the work of the court to be subjected to monitoring by international organisations, and for a constitutional review of the law to be conducted by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.
The court is a hybrid tribunal. Although it is part of Kosovo’s judiciary, it is staffed with internationals and located in The Hague. It was established in 2015 under pressure from Kosovo’s Western allies because of concern of potential witness intimidation if the processes were to be held domestically in Kosovo.
The court has a mandate to try crimes committed from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2000, based on a Council of Europe report by Swiss Senator Dick Marty, which made allegations of war crimes and organ trafficking by KLA fighters.
An EU Special Investigative Task Force, led
An EU Special Investigative Task Force, led by former US prosecutor Clint Williamson, concluded that there was enough evidence to indict suspects for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not enough to bring charges for organ trafficking.
The amendments to the law would also change the mandate of the court to only cover crimes allegedly committed after the Kosovo war ended, from July 1, 1999, until December 31, 2000.
The draft also says the court will not have jurisdiction over acts not committed in relation to the allegations of organ-trafficking in the Marty report – for which it has already been established that there is not enough evidence for trials.
Following the first-reading vote in parliament on Monday,
Following the first-reading vote in parliament on Monday, the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, founded by Thaci, demanded that the second reading be held that same day.
This proposal was rejected by the Speaker, Albulena Haxhiu, who said it was not on the agenda and who insisted that the party leaders – PM Albin Kurti and leader of Vetevendosje and Bedri Hamza of the PDK, meet first.
Hamza and Kurti held a meeting on Monday, but it did not result in an agreement.
Kurti said the top priority was electing
Kurti said the top priority was electing a state President. During the parliament session, Kurti said: “A law regarding the Hague court is necessary, but so is a President of Kosovo. Proceeding with one without the other could be highly detrimental. We cannot claim to be defending Kosovo’s interests in The Hague while allowing an institutional vacuum to develop within Kosovo.”
Parliament’s deputy speaker from the PDK, Vlora Citaku, disagreed. She said after the parliament session that voting on the new law was “a national obligation, whereas the election of the president is a matter of agreement”.
Source: balkaninsight.com
