Kosovo Specialist Chambers
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) (Albanian: Dhomat e Specializuara të Kosovës; Serbian: Специјализована већа Косова) is a court of Kosovo, located in The Hague (Netherlands), hosting four Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutors Office, which may perform their activities either in the Netherlands or in Kosovo. The court is currently set up for delegating the trials of the crimes committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic-Albanian paramilitary organisation which sought the separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia during the 1990s and the eventual creation of a Greater Albania. The alleged crimes concern the period 1998–2000, during and at the end of the Kosovo war and directed afterwards against "ethnic minorities and political opponents". The court was formally established in 2016. It is separate from other Kosovar institutions, and independent. It is composed of a Specialist Prosecutor's Office and four Specialist Chambers, with themselves comprising Judges' Chambers and a Registry.
Kosovo Specialist Chambers | |
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Dhomat e Specializuara të Kosovës (Albanian) Специјализована већа Косова (Serbian) | |
Seat of the Specialist Chambers | |
Established | 2017 |
Location | The Hague, Netherlands |
Authorized by | Constitution of Kosovo |
Website | https://www.scp-ks.org/ |
President | |
Currently | Ekaterina Trendafilova |
Since | 12 January 2017 |
Prosecutor | |
Currently | Kimberly West |
Since | 18 October 2023 |
In December 2016 Ekaterina Trendafilova was elected first president. Among the people charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity are Kosovo former president Hashim Thaçi and senior Kosovar politician Kadri Veseli. On 15 September 2021 the court's first trial opened, the case against Salih Mustafa.