Kosovo War Victims Slam MPs' Bid to Stop Court

War victims' groups and Pristina-based rights campaigners criticised recent attempts by MPs in Pristina to revoke a law which allows the new Kosovo Specialist Chambers to operate.

The president of the Association of Missing and Kidnapped Persons from Kosovo and Metohija, Ranko Djinovic, said that repealing the law would be an "injustice".

"It would be the greatest insult for the families [of victims], and it must not happen," Djinovic said.

Milorad Trifunovic, coordinator of another, similarly-named group, the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons, said he expected a lot from the court, and that it will not only prosecute those who killed Serbs but also "many Albanians".

"We expect the court to take justice in its hands, and present justice to the public and the victims' families," he added.

Trifunovic said that he thought the MPs' attempt to revoke the law would fail.

"I don't think this is going to happen. It's not in anyone's interest - neither Serbs' nor Albanians'," he said.

Shkemb Manaj, the son of Shaban Manaj, who was the head of the Democratic League of Kosovo branch in the town of Istog/Istok until he was killed in July 2000, also said he hoped that the new court would not be stopped.

"I expect that the politically-motivated murder of my father... and other politically motivated killings, are going be handled by the Special Court because some of them are within the timeframe and subject jurisdiction," Manaj said.

The court's jurisdiction will cover offences committed between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2000.

Manaj described the initiative to abolish the law on the court, which he believes has the credibility to shed light on political killings durimg that period, as "bad...