Kosovo’s president has called an international war crimes court with jurisdiction over potential Kosovar suspects a “historical injustice”, adding his government only reluctantly accepted it as the “price for its liberty”.

In an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the 10th anniversary of Kosovo declaring independence from Serbia, Hashim Thaci slammed the court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, as akin to creating a court to judge Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis in the Second World War.

He said on Wednesday: “Kosovo held a defensive war for its existence as a nation and attacked no one.”

Kosovo’s bloody war for independence ended with a 1999 Nato air campaign.

The Kosovo war crimes court has jurisdiction over alleged war crime suspects in Kosovo, but has yet to hear any cases.