UN prosecutors say ex-Kosovo PM has blood on his hands

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This was published 17 years ago

UN prosecutors say ex-Kosovo PM has blood on his hands

UN prosecutor Carla Del Ponte on Monday told judges that former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj was a warlord and a gangster as he went on trial for war crimes.

"These three come before you are accused of crimes: ugly, cruel and violent crimes," Del Ponte said of Haradinaj and his two co-accused.

"Be in no doubt that the prosecution will prove that these men; this warlord (Haradinaj), his lieutenant and his jailer have blood on their hands."

Haradinaj, who became the leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party after the 1998-99 conflict in the Serbian province, is the highest ranking Kosovo Albanian politician to go on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

A former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which fought against Belgrade-controlled forces in the Kosovo conflict, 38-year-old Haradinaj is still a hero to Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.

"There was nothing noble or heroic about the crimes in this case ... they were brutal and bloody murders," Del Ponte said in her opening statement.

The trial of Haradinaj, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj is only the second case involving Kosovo Albanian suspects at the court.

The three men face a total of 37 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecutions, murder, torture and rape.

During the Kosovo conflict Balaj and Brahimaj were high-ranking officers in Haradinaj's ethnic Albanian KLA.

The prosecution said Brahimaj was Haradinaj's right hand man while Balaj, who was in control of various detention centres, was described as his jailer.

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"The three accused were gansters in uniform and in control ... that proved to be a sinister and deadly combination for the victims in this case," Del Ponte said.

According to the prosecution the men formed a joint criminal enterprise aimed at driving out Serb civilians and others perceived to be collaborating with the Serbs or not supporting the KLA from the region under their control.

The ICTY indictment charges Haradinaj with allowing KLA troops under his command to target Serb and other civilians seen as collaborators. Prosecutors claims they carried out kidnappings, murder, detention and other mistreatment.

He is also charged with overseeing the setting up of detention centres where civilians were unlawfully kept, abused and tortured by troops under his command.

All three men insist they are innocent.

Haradinaj was indicted in 2005 while serving as prime minister of the Albanian-dominated Serbian province. After resigning, he surrendered to the ICTY, but was allowed to return to Kosovo and retake leadership of his party, now a member of the ruling coalition.

The move was seen as a step to ensure stability in Kosovo ahead of the difficult process to settle the future status of the province. Ethnic Albanians are demanding independence while Serbia insists it will never give up Kosovo.

"This case is about crimes in Kosovo in 1998 but also the trial takes place against the background of historic negotiations in 2007 to decide the future of Kosovo. These proceedings have no connection to any wider diplomatic events," Del Ponte stressed.

Though still a Serbian province, Kosovo has been run by the UN since 1999, after a NATO bombing campaign helped end a crackdown by Belgrade-controlled forces against the KLA and its supporters in which civilians were also targeted.

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