Kosovo Veterans Say They apos;ve Been Sent War Crime Files Again

2020-10-30T01:16:33Z

202.131.234.142:

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovo war veterans said Tuesday an unknown person has again handed them war crime files from a special international court in The Hague, Netherlands, probing alleged crimes during and after the Balkan nation´s 1998-1999 war. But a court spokesman warned that the veterans appeared to be trying to undermine the proper administration of justice. Hysni Gucati, head of the association of former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighters, said an unidentified man delivered the files - copies of the originals - to their office Tuesday morning in Kosovo´s capital, Pristina. It was the third such incident in two months. Nasim Haradinaj, another association official, said the names of President Hashim Thaci and other former top KLA leaders were [http://www.ehow.com/search.html?s=mentioned mentioned] in a draft document on [http://www.empowher.com/search/site/charges charges] against them. "It would be good that the local prosecutor´s office and the international ones probe and find who is bringing them and from where," said Gucati. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers is mandated to look into allegations that KLA members committed war crimes and [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html kynghidongduong.vn] crimes against humanity. Christopher Bennett, spokesman of the Specialist Prosecutor´s Office at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, condemned the statements by the war veterans' group which he said "has on a number of occasions engaged in activities which I believe are aimed at undermining the proper administration of justice." A copy of the documents was offered to journalists by the group. Bennett also commended journalists for not publishing the files, saying that would amount to a criminal act. "The SPO is committed to vigorously investigating and prosecuting individuals who commit any such crimes, including the disclosure of the identity of individuals who may be called before the court or any information that could lead to their identification." Thaci, former parliamentary speaker Kadri Veseli, and others have been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, enforced disappearances, persecution and torture. Both men have denied committing any crimes. A pretrial judge hasn´t made a decision on whether to proceed with their case. A statement from the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, the U.K. and the United States last week urged people not to discredit the court´s mission. In a separate development, six new international judges were nominated to the court, which already has 17 judges. The court has not started any trials so far since the start of its operation five years ago. The 1998-1999 war for [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html tour phượng hoàng cổ trấn] Kosovo´s independence from Serbia left more than 10,000 people dead - most of them ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. More than 1,600 people remain unaccounted for. The fighting ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian troops. Kosovo, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by many Western nations but not Serbia or its allies Russia and China. ___ Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.

Kosovo War Crimes Tribunal Arrests First Suspect Former KLA Leader

2020-10-29T06:48:38Z

202.131.234.142:

By Stephanie van den Berg THE HAGUE, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A former insurgent commander, Salih Mustafa, has been arrested in Kosovo and transferred to the Kosovo war crimes tribunal's detention center in the Netherlands, the court said on Thursday. Mustafa was a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict. The indictment charges Mustafa, 48, with four counts of war crimes including the beating and [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html tour trương gia giới] torture of at least six people and [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html tour trương gia giới] one murder. According to the indictment, which was made public after his arrest, Mustafa led a guerilla unit which ran a detention facility and interrogation site where inmates were beaten, tortured, [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html kynghidongduong.vn] given electric shocks and urinated on. According to prosecutors, Mustafa not only oversaw the violence but also personally participated in beatings and told one detainee he was a spy and was to be killed. "Following his arrest by the specialist prosecutor´s office on 24 September 2020, Salih Mustafa was transferred to the detention facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on 24 September 2020," the Hague-based tribunal said in a statement. Under international law, Mustafa is presumed innocent until proven guilty. A date for his initial appearance in court has not been set, but he is expected to be brought before a judge in the next few days. In June, the tribunal's prosecutor released an indictment against Kosovo President Hashim Thaci for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including nearly 100 murders. The indictment has yet to be [http://www.modernmom.com/?s=confirmed confirmed] by a judge. Thaci, who denies wrongdoing, traveled to The Hague in July to meet with prosecutors. The Specialist Chamber was set up in The Hague in 2015 to handle cases of alleged crimes by KLA guerrillas during the war that led to Kosovo´s independence from Serbia a decade later. Local efforts to investigate alleged KLA war crimes have so far been foiled by widespread intimidation in the state where clan loyalties run deep and former rebels are lionised. The special prosecutor's office is based in the Netherlands partly to help ensure protection of witnesses. The Specialist Chamber is governed by Kosovo law but is staffed by international judges and prosecutors. Other suspects from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s have been tried at the now-defunct U.N. Yugoslav Tribunal. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg, Fatos Bytyci and Toby Sterling; Editing by Toby Chopra and Angus MacSwan)

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Kosovo Veterans Say They apos;ve Been Sent War Crime Files Again

Kosovo War Crimes Tribunal Arrests First Suspect Former KLA Leader