Kosovo rushes war crimes court change to avoid snap poll

Kosovo parliament voted to curb the powers of its special war crimes court in a last-minute session that narrowly avoided another governmental collapse in the early hours of Wednesday.

The amendment, which was tightly negotiated ahead of a looming deadline to elect the country's president at midnight, came after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers found four senior guerrilla figures guilty of war crimes last month.

The conviction of the men, which included former president Hashim Thaci, sparked outrage in a country where the former Kosovo Liberation Army figures are largely viewed as heroes.

Protests broke out after Thaci was sentenced to 25 years for crimes committed during the struggle for independence from Serbia in the 1990s.

The court, based in the Netherlands, ruled that the ex-president and three other former KLA leaders were criminally responsible for murders, illegal arrests, torture and cruel treatment committed by KLA fighters during the conflict.

The amendment was passed minutes before parliament's deadline to elect its president -- a trigger that had threatened to send voters back to the polls for a fourth time in less than two years.

In a deal with the opposition, Prime Minister Albin Kurti's government secured the two-thirds majority needed to elect Justina Shiroka Pula as president, ending a long-running political crisis.

Pula was previously an energy minister and is the first woman to chair the Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts. Despite Kurti's party holding a majority in parliament, it has been unable to negotiate to elect a president for months, and previous impasses forced snap polls.

After a tense night of talks, Kurti struck a deal with the largest opposition party to pass the war crimes court changes in exchange for support for the president -- despite the prime minister previously labelling the bill "hasty."

Opposition parties and war veteran organizations have long criticized the KSC, which is established under Kosovo law but based in The Hague.

According to the original text of the amendment, the court -- which was specifically set up to prosecute crimes committed by ethnic Albanian guerrilla fighters during the war -- will have its powers dramatically shrunk.

The amendment would prevent the KSC from prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the war.

Instead, its jurisdiction would be limited to crimes committed inside Kosovo in the immediate aftermath of the war.

It would also allow convicts to serve their terms in Kosovo, limit sentences to 15 years and clear the way for presidential pardons.

The changes to the court sparked celebrations from thousands of protesters who had gathered nearby, with fireworks launched above the capital Pristina.

But the law change would not affect the current sentences for the four former KLA leaders, including Thaci, who have already said they will appeal through the established process at the KSC. (AFP)