Kosovo on trial at the ICTY: narratives of war, history, justice and injustice

This chapter will deal with the transitional narrative of the Kosovo conflict as created at the trials held at the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Kosovo ICTY trials will first be categorised into trials with Serb perpetrators, and trials with Kosovo Albanian perpetrators. Subsequently, I shall investigate how the evidence and the judgements in these trials have memorialised historical events that led to conflicts and violence and how they impact on social dialogue and social reconstruction in the post-conflict Kosovo and Serbia. I will explore whether war crime trials contribute to democratisation, peace-building, and reconciliation processes in the societies torn by memories of individual suffering? Do they help to clear blurred lines between political “right” and “wrong” by determining what was criminal political behaviour in the past? Can they contribute to a consensus about the history of the conflict? Or do such trials – regardless of the verdict, i.e. a conviction or an acquittal – also have the potential to cement the pre-war and war narratives and create national heroes or even martyrs out of political and military leaders, who were indicted and tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide?