Any move by Kosovo to scrap a war crimes court linked to its independence struggle would seriously undermine relations with friendly western nations, its main backer the United States said on Friday. Lawmakers from the governing coalition, who hold a majority, are pressing for a vote to abolish the court. The vote was scheduled for later in the day but it failed twice due to opposition from other parties.
Parliament speaker Kadri Veseli said parliament would continue to attempt to vote on the issue in the coming days. Isa Mustafa, Kosovo's former prime minister and an opposition leader, said the proposal was "devastating for our state and very damaging for justice".
The Specialist Chamber was established in The Hague in 2015 to bring to justice Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas alleged to have committed atrocities during the 1998-99 war that led to the country's secession from Serbia. It has yet to hear any cases. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, President Hashim Thaci and parliamentary speaker Veseli are former KLA commanders.
The court's judges and prosecutors are foreign but it has been set up under Kosovan law, giving Pristina jurisdiction over it. Calling for the parliamentary vote to be halted, US ambassador Greg Delawie said it would have "extraordinarily negative implications" for Kosovo. "It is just a disgrace," he told reporters in Pristina. "This will be considered by the US as stab in the back. Kosovo will be choosing isolation instead of cooperation." There was no immediate response from Kosovo officials to Delawie's comments. Washington has been Kosovo's leading political and financial backer since it declared independence in 2008.
Nataliya Apostolova, the EU representative in Pristina, called the attempt to scrap the court "appalling and extremely damaging". The court was set up following US and European pressure on the government to confront alleged KLA crimes against ethnic Serbs.