The embassies of the Quint countries (France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States) have called on the Kosovo government and parliament to oppose any attempts to undermine or discredit the mission of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) and the Specialist Chambers Prosecution Office (SPO).
In a joint statement on Friday, they urged Kosovo politicians to ensure that KSC-SPO can carry out their mission in line with the constitution.
The embassies commended the Speaker of Parliament, Vjosa Osmani, for requesting an interpretation of President Hashim Thaci’s constitutional amendment proposal to extend the term of the KSC-SPO located in The Hague.
Last month, Thaci asked the parliament to amend the constitution so as to include a legal provision stipulating that the term of the KSC-SPO can be terminated by the Council of the European Union, “in consultation with the Government of the Republic of Kosovo.”
The current form of this legal stipulation is found in Law 04/L-274: the court’s mandate “shall continue until such time as Kosovo is notified by the Council of the European Union that the investigations have been concluded or any proceedings resulting in therefrom have been concluded.”
The embassies also praised Kosovo’s prosecutor’s office for letting the SPO investigate the leaking of its confidential documents.
Kosovo’s organization of war veterans has received thousands of leaked SPO investigation files in two batches recently. The organization claims that the authority of The Hague tribunal is compromised by the leaks.
