Violent Clashes Erupt Outside Kosovo Parliament Over Controversial War Crimes Court Reforms

Police in Pristina, Kosovo, clashed with demonstrators outside the Parliament building on Monday evening over proposed legislation to limit the powers of a Hague-based war crimes court. The violence erupted after lawmakers ended their session without passing the changes regarding the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a judicial body established in 2015 to handle crimes from the Kosovo War between 1998 and 2000.

The contested amendments would cap sentences at 15 years, permit prisoners to serve their terms within Kosovo, and allow appeals to the country’s Supreme Court. Although the bill passed its first reading earlier on Monday, Parliament adjourned before a second vote could take place.

Hundreds of protesters, including supporters and veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), gathered in Pristina to demonstrate against recent war crimes convictions. Some demonstrators attempted to block lawmakers from leaving the area. Riot police deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, who retaliated by throwing flares, firecrackers, and tear gas canisters back at officers. Naser Syla, the emergency director at a hospital in Pristina, reported that 12 people sustained injuries, including 11 civilians.

The unrest follows the September 16 sentencing of former President Hashim Thaci and three other former KLA commanders, who received prison terms ranging from 13 to 25 years. All defendants have maintained their innocence. The rulings sparked widespread protests and drew unanimous condemnation from Kosovo’s Parliament in late September.

The legislative push is closely tied to an ongoing political standoff over the country’s presidency. Kosovo’s Constitutional Court mandated that a president must be elected by October 6, or Parliament will be dissolved to trigger early elections. The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) tied its support for the presidential vote to the passage of the court reforms, whereas Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje party insisted the presidential vote take place first.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers were originally created under pressure from Western allies to ensure impartial trials away from local political interference and witness intimidation. However, the court remains controversial in Kosovo, where the KLA is widely viewed as a liberating force against Serbian repression during the 1998-99 conflict that claimed some 13,000 lives.