Kosovo paves way for Special Court

The Assembly of Kosovo voted on Monday in favor of the constitutional amendments, which paves the way for the establishment of the Special Court.

Out of the 117 present MPs in the session of the 120-seated assembly, 82 voted in favor, 4 against and 1 abstained, and 30 opposition MPs didn't attend voting.

The vote was a commitment from Kosovo delivered last year to set up the Special Court, which will have the authority to deal with alleged war crimes committed by Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1999 war.

The constitutional amendment is approved in the second attempt, after a failure recorded on June 26 when only 75 MPs voted in favor. After an intensive lobbying from Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaqi, his PDK party MPs voted today for the establishment of the Special Court.

Immediately after the vote the Government of Kosovo commenced a meeting to discuss and most likely to approve the draft law on Special Court which will be delivered to the Assembly tonight in order to have this matter concluded after a long delay.

Kosovo is a province of Serbia, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008.