Berisha at PACE: Appeals court should objectively review sentences of former KLA leaders; Belgrade seeks votes with Mladić’s ghost

Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha delivered his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe during the debate on Kosovo, touching on electoral processes in the country, the manner of electing the President, and the recent decisions of the Special Court against former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

At the start of his speech, Berisha assessed that the repeated parliamentary elections in Kosovo were held in line with international standards, but stressed their frequency should be avoided in the future.

“The repeated elections in Kosovo, as regards respect for international principles for parliamentary elections, regardless of their motive, were held in line with these principles. However, I agree with previous speakers that their frequency, due to the election of the President, should be avoided. For this, the assistance of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission is needed to find a more workable way of electing the President of the Republic,” Berisha said.

Turning to the recent sentences of former KLA leaders by the Special Court in The Hague, the Democrat leader said they have caused strong reactions in Kosovo, stressing that no one opposes punishing crimes, but, in his view, the way the cases were handled has raised many questions.

“During these last days, after the unexpected sentences of the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army by the Kosovo court in The Hague, tens of thousands of citizens have protested every day in Pristina. No one rises against punishing crimes, but some comparisons and the lack of clear evidence for concrete crimes have caused public anger,” he declared.

Berisha also recalled the earlier decisions of the Hague Tribunal for senior Serb military officials, comparing them with the sentences given to former KLA leaders.

“For example, the UN Tribunal in The Hague sentenced Pristina Corps commander Vladimir Lazarević and Yugoslav Army General Staff chief Dragoljub Ojdanić to 15 years in prison each for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Operation Horseshoe in Pristina. In contrast, Kosovo’s political leaders were sentenced to a total of 84 years in prison, based on a chain of command they never had in a structured way,” he said.

Berisha further criticized the way, in his view, the Special Court has functioned, claiming prosecutions have focused on only one side of the conflict.

“Recently, the sentences handed down by the Kosovo court in The Hague have followed, surprisingly, clear ethnic lines. Contrary to its statute, the court has prosecuted only the victim side and not the aggressor. Therefore, let us hope the Appeals Court reviews their cases more objectively,” the DP leader said.

In the final part of his speech, Berisha dwelled on the figure of Ratko Mladić and the stance of Serb authorities toward the legacy of the wars in former Yugoslavia.

“The burial with state honors of the butcher of Bosnia, the orchestrator of the biggest genocide in Europe since World War II in Srebrenica, was a second execution, 31 years later, of 8,500 boys and men, only because of their religious and ethnic belonging. This is a grave insult to all humanity, a stance of Belgrade and Aleksandar Vučić, who seeks to win elections with the ghost of Ratko Mladić,” Berisha declared.

In conclusion, the Albanian opposition leader said European institutions must react to these developments.

“I believe this institution should take clear action against these risks,” he concluded.