Albania sees Kosovo decision on new war crimes court as a positive development

TIRANA, April 25 – Albania hailed the decision of the Kosovo Parliament and government to adopt a series of laws allowing the creation of a new court there to deal with the alleged crimes committed during the 1998-2000 war.
“(Albania’s) Foreign Ministry re-expresses its evaluation for the sublime sacrifice of the Kosovo people and their heroic stand for freedom, human dignity and democracy in response to the aggression and ethnic cleansing of the Milosevic regime and considers these decisions of the Republic of Kosovo’s constitutional institutions as a devotion to the rule of law and a step toward respecting the highest international standards for the human rights,” said a statement.
Tirana also said that such decisions “will serve to Kosovo’s strategic aspirations and its Euro-Atlantic integration.”
Lawmakers in Kosovo cleared the way last week for the creation of a European Union-backed court that will investigate crimes committed by ethnic Albanian Kosovo fighters during the country’s 1998-99 war of independence from Serbia.
The move, in an 89-22 vote, follows years of diplomatic pressure by the EU and United States for Kosovo to open a state investigation into civilian killings committed by the ethnic Albanian side. The war crimes court, to be headquartered officially in Kosovo but conduct its work chiefly in the Netherlands, will be staffed by international judges and prosecutors. Many details of its powers and penalties remain to be agreed between Kosovo and EU authorities, but it is expected to operate along similar lines to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which has stopped taking new cases and is slated for eventual closure.
Kosovo enjoyed NATO backing in a war that left about 10,000 dead and millions homeless. The West then staunchly supported Kosovo in its efforts to emerge from the conflict as an independent state, which was finalized in 2008.