KLA

The prosecution case in the retrial of former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) got off to a rocky start, hours into the proceedings last week, after its key witness refused to testify.

When he first appeared before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on March 9, 2005, Ramush Haradinaj was Prime Minister of Kosovo. A former nightclub bouncer, he became leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the conflict with Serbia in 1998. His subordinate Idriz Balaj was commander of the KLA "Black Eagles", a "rapid intervention special unit". And his uncle, Lahi Brahimaj, was in charge of the KLA's finances. But for the prosecution, the trial of these three men, which started in The Hague on March 5, 2007, is not about a resistance movement breaching the laws of war, but about the cruel abuse of power.

From its very creation in May 1993, The Hague-based ICTY was branded the heir of the 1945 Nuremberg tribunal. But while the Nuremberg prosecutors had only Germans in the dock, this new UN court would make a point of not being victor's justice. With the UN Security Council mandate "to maintain and restore international peace and security" came the Tribunal's obligation to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by individuals on all sides of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The ICTY has done this, but it has not avoided political justice.

Kosovo is gearing up to set up a new special tribunal to deal with allegations of war crimes committed by leading members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). This week special prosecutor Clint Williamson was in Pristina where he discussed the practicalities of setting up the court with the government in preparation for the imminent publication of his findings. 

Officially Kosovo is volunteering to establish of a special court to deal with alleged war crimes by Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members. But behind closed doors Pristina officials are fuming that they have been strong-armed by the international community.

A special investigative taskforce has found evidence that top Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) officials carried out a campaign of persecution against Serbs and others during and straight after Kosovo’s 1998-1999 conflict with Serbia. But with no court yet in place, the filing of indictments will have to wait.

Plans to form a special court for prosecuting crimes allegedly committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) gained ground last week with the election of a new prosecutor and Pristina’s announcement of a new government.