Kosovo MPs Fail to Pass Law to Protect KLA’s Values

The proposed Draft Law on Protection of the Kosovo Liberation Army's Values failed to pass on Thursday after only 35 MPs out of a total of 120 lawmakers in the Kosovo Assembly voted in favour.

"A total of 36 deputies participated [in the vote], 35 votes in favour, one against and no abstentions," said Kosovo Assembly speaker Vjosa Osmani.

The draft law was intended to enshrine in law an institutional and civic obligation to protect the image ​​of the guerrilla army that fought Serbian forces in the 1990s war.

Concerns have been raised that the law could limit freedom of speech because it obliges "any public official and citizen of the Republic of Kosovo… to respect and protect the war values determined by this law at any time and in circumstances within the country and abroad".

The US ambassador to Pristina, Philip Kosnett, wrote on Twitter on July 29, that "the proposed KLA Values Law … criminalises free speech, intimidates citizens, and is costly".

The law was originally proposed in 2018 but the idea was revived when President Hashim Thaci - who was the KLA's political leader during the war - was interviewed by Hague-based war crime prosecutors for four days in July.

Thaci, whose Democratic Party of Kosovo proposed the draft law, has denied any wrongdoing.

Gazmend Bytyqi from the Democratic Party of Kosovo said that the party would amend the legislation to address "concerns of colleagues and international friends" and bring it back to parliament, media reported.

But six Kosovo-based NGOs called on the party to withdraw the legislation altogether.

"The current draft law violates freedom of speech, while undermining the efforts to bring justice for all victims and survivors [of the war] from all ethnic...