Kosovo Probes 23 Albanians Over War Crimes

Kosovo prosecutors said they were investigating 23 ethnic Albanians over war crimes allegedly committed during the late 1990s conflict.

(kosovocompromisestuff) Tuesday, July 29, 2014

“Five local prosecutors are dealing with these investigations and once they’re done, they will come out with results,” Sevdije Morina, chief prosecutor at Kosovo’ s Special Prosecution, told BIRN’s ‘Justice in Kosovo’ (‘Drejtesia ne Kosove’) television programme on Sunday.Details of the alleged crimes are not known and it remains unclear whether indictments will be raised for all the suspects under investigation.In June, executive powers over such cases were transferred from the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, to the local Special Prosecution unit in Pristina when the mandate of the European justice mission changed.EULEX has so far resolved over 30 war crime cases, and will continue to deal with cases launched before the changes in June.Meanwhile, a new international special court is due to be established next year to look into war crimes allegedly committed by former Kosovo Liberation Army members.Clint Williamson, the head of the EU-backed Special Investigative Task Force which looked into allegations of organ-trafficking by KLA fighters mentioned in a 2010 report by Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty, will announce the results of the investigation on Tuesday.