Can Kurti really sue Serbia for genocide? The answer lies in UN Resolution 1244

The new prime minister of provisional institutions in Pristina, Albin Kurti, announced in his keynote speech the introduction of compulsory military service and increased investments in the army, as well as adoption of laws on war crimes, genocide and aggression of Serbia. Should Belgrade attach importance to these announcements and do they have justification in international law? Lawyer Tom Fila says this that filing a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice would require a state that is a member of the United Nations - while according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, Kosovo and Metohija is a territory, not a state.

Tom Fila added that a naive person might say this is a case of "a child getting a toy and getting carried away playing with it - and the toy is power, and he (Kurti) is playing with it."

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"However, power is a wicked toy, many get burned by it, not least those who play with it."

According to him, this is not the first time that accusations of war crimes and genocide have been fabricated against Serbia.

"It started with Vukovar in 1991. The Croats are announcing a lawsuit for all that. Considering that Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic was hanging out with them (Pristina) that's probably where the idea came from. Izetbegovic has also been saying something similar. I don't know which court Kurti thinks he will file the lawsuit before, such a court doesn't exist," Fila told RTS.

He stressed that filing a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice requires United Nations membership.

"Under Resolution 1244 Kosovo is a territory, not a state. Kurti has decided before which court, before the current war crimes court, but under Kosovo0s laws that one is for individuals, not for states. So he's playing, the kid doesn't know what he's saying," Fila remarked.

These messages coming Kurti, he noted, are being sent to those who have crossed the line of nationalism.

"I'm a nationalist, I love Serbia, but I am not a chauvinist, I don't wish bad things onto others. Playing with this, he will make a problem for both his people and the Serbs in Kosovo," Fila said.

He thinks the international community will withhold credit to Kurti.

"They will put pressure on him and I don't believe that government will last long. Ivica Dacic's response to him was the best, when he told him that they drove out 200,000 people. The expulsion of Serbs (from Kosovo) begins with (Yugoslav President Josip Broz) Tito. Tito passed a law banning Serbs from returning to Kosovo," Fila said.

Toma Fila; Photo: Media Center Belgrade

Concerning the announced adoption of a war crimes law, the lawyer said:

"They can adopt it, but it has to be written by someone. He's alluding to Rambouillet. We were in Rambouillet with our top constitutional law expert Ratko Markovic. Behind the Albanian delegation was a US legal team. He's counting on them, just as when Haradinaj was defended in The Hague by the office of the wife of Tony Blair, who advocated the bombing of Serbia," said Fila.

KFOR, he noted, is the only army that can exist in Kosovo.

"International law is limited by the will of the powerful. It de facto exists for small states, for us, while for large states it does not exist. In The Hague, the first president of the court (Hague Tribunal) Antonio Cassese told us that whoever ignores the Security Council is committing a war crime, then America bombs us without a Security Council decision, and then that changes. If America and NATO want they will give them an army, we can't go to war," said Fila.

There has been a special court for KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army") crimes since 2017 but it still hasn't raised  a single indictment.

Albin Kurti - Photo: Tanjug/AP

"I'm a big pessimist as far as that court is concerned. I don't want the executioners, those who personally killed those people, to answer before this court. I want those who gave the orders. Remember that it is a disgrace that Serbia extradited to the Hague two presidents and three army chiefs, the entire political, military and police brass. We can't now be getting some goon who was in cahoots with Haradinaj and takes all the blame in exchange for money, and who was a direct executioner. We need the leaders," said Fila.

He stressed that he spoke with former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte many times.

"She told me that we hadn't given them the KLA command structure. This time, we gave it to them. They have complete information, by name and last name, and where each part is located. (Milovan) Drecun did it. Now they know who was able to give orders and who gave orders. The command responsibility has been established. I want to see the accused at the level of command responsibility, not of executioners," Fila concluded.

(Telegraf.rs/RTS)