The Special Prosecution of Kosovo has announced that the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague “is investigating the matter of sending documents to the KLA Veterans Organization”.
On September 7, the Organization of KLA War Veterans, through a conference, claimed that there were over 4,000 files of the Special Court, as they were submitted anonymously to the office of this organization.
The veterans said that in these documents are the names and addresses of witnesses and other persons with whom the Special Court investigators cooperated.
But on Tuesday, although not confirmed by the Special Court, court investigators went to the KLA OVL office in Pristina.
Representatives of this organization have confirmed to the media in Kosovo that they have been handed a copy of these documents.
The contents of these alleged documents are unknown and it is not yet known if they are original.
Radio Free Europe has sent some questions to the spokesperson of the Specialized Chambers, Angela Griep. In a brief response, Griep said, “We have no comment to make.”
The spokesman for the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Christopher Bennett, responded similarly, saying that “the Office of the Special Prosecutor is not commenting on this matter.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Special Prosecution of Kosovo recalled that “unauthorized disclosure of confidential documents or information related to protected witnesses means a violation of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo and may be punishable by imprisonment.”
Betim Musliu from the Kosovo Institute of Justice told Radio Free Europe that making such documents public puts at risk all those persons who may be involved in eventual legal proceedings.
The Special Court, composed of the Specialized Chambers and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague, was established by the Kosovo authorities at the insistence of the international community.
The tribunal was established following a 2011 Council of Europe report in which Swiss Senator Dick Marty addresses the alleged crimes of “members of the Kosovo Liberation Army against ethnic minorities and political rivals” from January 1998 until in December 2000.
The formation of this court required constitutional changes, which were approved by the deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo.
