Several members of an opposition party in Kosovo were arrested on November 29 during a protest in Pristina against a special war crimes court in The Hague that is prosecuting former Kosovar leaders over crimes committed during the 1998-99 war against Serbia.
Six members of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which is not represented in parliament, were arrested and ordered detained for 48 hours by the prosecutor's office, PSD said, adding that its chairman, Dardan Molliqaj, was among those arrested.
The protest took place during a visit by Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) President Ekaterina Trendafilova and escalated when protesters threw smoke bombs inside and outside the hotel where she was holding a meeting with members of civil society. Police responded by using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the protesters.
The presence of Trendafilova "is an attempt to...improve the image of the unjust special court," PSD said on Facebook.
PSD said the detention of its members was unfair and an attempt to silence the opposition.
Kosovar police have not commented on the arrests or the protest.
The demonstrators believe that the KSC has unfairly accused former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), which waged the war for independence from Serbia and are now on trial at The Hague.
The KSC is a Kosovar court seated in the Netherlands and staffed by international judges. It was set up in 2015 to handle cases under Kosovo law against former UCK guerrillas.
Former Kosovar President Hashim Thaci, former parliament speaker Kadri Veseli, former lawmaker Rexhep Selimi, and others have been charged. They were all top leaders of the UCK.
Thaci resigned as president of Kosovo in November 2020 after learning that the KSC had confirmed an indictment against him. The charges against him and the others include murder, torture, and persecution.
Speaking before the protest escalated, Molliqaj said that the demonstrators gathered in front of the hotel to oppose Trendafilova's visit.
He claimed that the court’s mandate is to pursue only the UCK and said that whenever Kosovo gets closer to Serbia, "there has been persecution of the UCK."