Sentences capped at 15 years and transfer of cases to Kosovo — what PDK’s draft law on the Specialist Court provides

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has officially submitted to the Assembly of Kosovo the Draft Law on amending and supplementing the Law on the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.

This step comes as a political and legal initiative following the verdict of 16 September 2026 against the former KLA leaders in The Hague.

According to the explanatory memorandum accompanying the initiative, the proposal aims to restore the jurisdiction of the Specialist Court within the initial constitutional framework and to protect the legitimacy of the liberation war from blanket designations such as "joint criminal enterprise".

What exactly does PDK’s initiative contain?

The draft law stipulates that the Specialist Court may deal only with the specific allegations stemming from the Council of Europe Report (Doc. 12462, 2011) — focusing on allegations of organ trafficking or crimes directly related to them. It is stripped of the right to try general war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The temporal scope of the acts that may be handled in The Hague is limited exclusively to the period 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2000.

It is proposed that the maximum sentence the Specialist Chambers may impose not exceed 15 years of imprisonment, applying the legal principle of the most favorable norm.

Convicted persons are also envisaged to serve their sentences in Kosovo’s own correctional institutions and to be granted the right of pardon by the President of Kosovo.

For all charges or cases not covered by the new specifics, the court must declare lack of jurisdiction within expedited deadlines (15–30 days) and transfer the files, evidence and detainees to Kosovo’s Special Department and Special Prosecution.

The abstract constitutional review of laws is taken away from the Specialist Constitutional Chamber in The Hague and returned exclusively to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo in Prishtina.

The Assembly gains the right to authorize specialized international organizations to oversee the work of the Specialist Court from the standpoint of human rights and fair trial.

Under Article 26, cases currently actively on trial will continue under the existing rules until the Appeals Panel in The Hague issues its judgment.

However, after that phase, any further legal remedy or appeal will automatically pass to the Supreme Court of Kosovo. /Telegrafi/