UN Court Orders Retrial of Albanian War Criminal and Political Leader Ramush Haradinaj; KLA “Veterans” Threaten War/Terror

Julia Gorin reports on the latest shocker coming out of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal. The US backed the murderous jihadists in Kosovo, and yet we still back the trojan horse. This is an outrage. Any attempt at justice for the Serbs is met with threats of jihadi war and terror. Here is Gorin's report:

Yesterday we received the stunning news that:

UN court orders retrial for former Kosovo premier By MIKE
CORDER (AP)

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Kosovo’s former prime minister must be retried on
murder and torture charges related to the country’s 1998-99 war with Serbia, the
Yugoslav war crimes tribunal ruled Wednesday, calling his acquittal two years
ago “a miscarriage of justice.”

The original trial for Ramush Haradinaj and two former Kosovo Liberation Army
comrades was marred by intimidation that left two prosecution witnesses too scared to
testify, tribunal President Patrick Robinson said.

Actually, that trial left at least six witnesses dead. Others refused to
testify, with some being held in contempt; others were caught lying to protect
their families — and some protected witnesses had their identities revealed (once by an Albanian journalist and another time allegedly by
an American deputy UN chief whose duties included getting drunk once a week with Haradinaj).

This is why there’s a Balkans saying, “He lies like an Albanian witness.”

As this American judge in Kosovo learned, witness intimidation is
an Albanian “cultural norm.” To give readers a fuller picture of just what went
on during the Haradinaj trial, I hope to soon do a follow-up post titled “Scenes
from a Hague Trial.”

But for now, back to the news of the day:

“The trial chamber failed to appreciate the gravity of the threat that
witness intimidation posted to the trial’s integrity,” Robinson said in ordering
the first retrial in the tribunal’s 17-year history.

Pause. What could have suddenly caused the Tribunal to announce its
first-ever retrial? Could it be the fact that the following day the other
international court’s decision is due? That would be the decision by the
International Court of Justice 
— on the legality of separatists unilaterally seceding from democratic
countries. It is to be an advisory opinion on the Kosovo land grab, which the
rest of the 192 UN members have been awaiting before deciding whether to
recognize an independent Kosovo. (”The rest” meaning all but the 69 who have so
far recognized.)

While any semblance of legality points in Serbia’s favor, the U.S. and UK
have been doing all in their power to pressure the ICJ and impress upon it what
an Albanian-unfavorable decision could unleash throughout Europe and beyond. So
given the extraordinary timing of the Haradinaj retrial announcement, perhaps
the two UN-affiliated courts “talked” and came up with this exchange: Let’s
“give” the Serbs something (Haradinaj) since we’re going to screw them on
Thursday.

Or are we supposed to believe that by sheer coincidence on the day before the
crucial ICJ ruling, the ICTY got to reflecting on just how improper a 2007 trial
was, and had a bout of conscience over it? Enough to decide to have its
first-ever retrial?

It’s just a theory, of course — and it relies on a negative outcome for
Serbia and the world (which one hopes isn’t the ruling announced a few hours
from now) — but if it’s accurate, there are at least two ironies in such an
“exchange.” First: If, as we’re conditioned to think, the Serbs lost Kosovo
“because of the 90s”/ “because of Milosevic”/ “because of war crimes,”
convicting Haradinaj of war crimes would mean the Albanians should lose
governing rights to Kosovo too. By tossing the Serbs a bone, the so-called
international community is shooting itself in the foot. Well it would be, if
double standards weren’t the rule in the Balkans.

The second irony is that Western pressure to rule against Serbia all boils
down to giving the Albanians what they want so they don’t hurt us. But the
“solution” (retrying Haradinaj) will only achieve the same unwanted result. As
evidenced by the threat contained in the same AP report:

In a strongly worded statement, KLA veterans who fought under Haradinaj’s
command in western Kosovo urged the tribunal to reverse its decision or risk
destabilizing the region.

“If his detention continues, everything is clear: destabilization not only of
Kosovo but of the entire Balkans,” veterans said in a statement sent to the
AP.

Here is the rest of the AP article:

Haradinaj had been accused along with Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj of abusing
Serbs or their supporters in 1998 as Kosovo battled for independence from
Serbia, which it eventually declared in 2008.

Judges originally threw out all charges against Haradinaj and Balaj for lack
of evidence, but convicted Brahimaj on charges of torture and sentenced him to
six years. Appeals judges had later upheld Brahimaj’s sentence.

“Given the potential importance of these witnesses to the prosecution’s case,
the error undermined the fairness of the proceedings and resulted in a
miscarriage of justice,” Robinson said.

Robinson ordered Haradinaj, Balaj and Brahimaj retried on six counts of the
original indictment alleging murder, cruel treatment and torture of prisoners at
a KLA headquarters and prison in the town of Jablanica.

A date for the retrial has yet to be set, and it is unclear if the frightened
witnesses would testify at the new hearings. Tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic
said the first step will be to appoint a new panel of judges for the
case.
…
Haradinaj’s lawyer Michael O’Reilly said he was “extremely
surprised” by the decision.

“It is something we could not have foreseen, particularly in view of his
unambiguous acquittal two years ago,” O’Reilly said in a statement sent to The
Associated Press.
…
Serbia’s deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric
hailed the court decision as a “big victory for Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz
and his team in their struggle for the rights of the victims.”

Belgrade often accuses the court of bias because the vast majority of its
suspects are Serbs.

Here we’ve arrived at another purpose Haradinaj’s retrial is to serve. First,
please note the standard attribution to “Belgrade” (or, alternately, “Serbian
claims”) when referring to documented and provable facts. Just count the Serbian
defendants in comparison to Croatian, Albanian or Bosnian defendants. Then
proceed to count actual convictions. Then compare the lengths of the sentences.
Finally, recall that it wasn’t until a few years into the ICTY’s existence that
it occurred to the court to try anyone other than Serbs. Indeed,
prosecutors in the past have expressed the common understanding that the court
had been set up to try, or at least focus on, Serbian war crimes.

As for the second purpose of the Haradinaj retrial, it will be a great way
for the utterly appalling ICTY to claim “objectivity”: re-arrest a blatant
killer initially released because he had killed or intimidated the would-be
witnesses, in order to justify sentencing Serbian non-criminals.

Back to the AP article:

Haradinaj was working in western Europe as a nightclub bouncer and
construction worker when he returned to Kosovo to fight for its independence in
the 1998-99 uprising against Serbia, and rose to become one of its most
prominent rebel commanders.

He was a Western ally who harbored NATO special forces as they chose targets
for airstrikes in 1999 as the alliance bombed Serbia to end its crackdown on
Kosovo.

Afterward, he was seen as a political leader prepared to bridge the divide
between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians and its Serb minority. He formed the Alliance
for the Future of Kosovo, a political party known as AAK, and was elected prime
minister in December 2004.

Imagine. Our man to bridge the ethnic divide and create a “multi-ethnic
Kosovo” is the same man who boarded a bus in 1998 seeking out two Albanians on it, because
they were married to Serbian women. The two men were never seen or heard from
again.

Back again to the rest of the article:

But he lasted just 100 days in office before quitting in March 2005 after
learning of the indictment against him and surrendering to authorities in The
Hague.

Haradinaj returned to head the opposition AAK after his acquittal [and
indeed, was allowed to participate in politics during his trial], but
the party has struggled to regain the support it had enjoyed during his time as
Kosovo’s prime minister.

Haradinaj’s deputy, Blerim Shala, told The Associated Press that Wednesday’s
ruling was “very bad for the AAK, for the citizens and for Kosovo itself.”

“We are extremely surprised with the decision,” he said, “especially since
Haradinaj was previously acquitted of the charges by a unanimous decision.”

Wednesday’s decision came a day before the U.N.’s highest judicial
organ, the International Court of Justice, is expected to issue a nonbinding
advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.
[…]

Another report, with a few additional, interesting
details:

The Hague, 21 July (AKI) – The United Nations war crimes tribunal appeals
panel on Wednesday ordered a partial retrial of former Kosovo prime minister
Ramus Haradinaj and two of his aides for crimes against Serb, Roma and non-loyal
Albanian civilians during Kosovo war for independence in 1998/99.

Haradinaj, 42, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that
started a rebellion against Serbian rule in 1998, was acquitted by the court in
April 2008 on all 37 counts for lack of evidence.

Another KLA commander, Idriz Balaj, was also acquitted, while Lah Brahimaj
was sentenced to six years in jail. The appeals panel, chaired by the war crimes
court president Patrick Robinson, however, ordered a retrial of all three
indictees on six counts of the indictment, referring to murder, cruel and
inhuman treatment and violation of laws of war.

Explaining Wednesday’s verdict, Robinson said the trial chamber hadn’t paid
due attention to the intimidation of potential witnesses in Haradinaj’s trial,
which had led to “failure of justice”.

At least six potential witnesses against Haradinaj had been killed,
or died mysterious deaths before and during the trial.

Haradinaj was briefly prime minister of Kosovo, which was put under UN
control in 1999 after NATO bombing pushed Serbian forces out of the province. He
resigned in 2005 and surrendered to the court after his indictment was
unveiled.

“I killed Serbian policemen, Serb civilians and disobedient Albanians,”
Haradinaj admitted in memoir “The Stories About War and Freedom.”

The court ordered detention of all three indictees pending a retrial.
Haradinaj had earlier said he would not attend today’s court session, but
according to sources, he was arrested in Kosovo on 19 July and brought to the
Hague.

Kosovo majority ethnic Albanians declared independence in 2008, but Serbia is
fighting a diplomatic battle to retain the control over the province. On
Serbia’s request, the International Court of Justice will render its opinion on
the legality of Kosovo independence on Thursday.

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Antigona e Dardanisë

8 years ago

Haradinaj is not guilty he is Kosova’s hero !

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