New York Times
PARIS – The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Thursday acquitted a former commander of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army of all charges of war crimes in a decision that could inflame anti-Kosovo sentiment in Serbia just weeks after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence.
The commander, Ramush Haradinaj, who also briefly served as prime minister of Kosovo, was found not guilty of murder, persecution, rape and torture of Kosovo Serb civilians and some ethnic Albanians.
The crimes were said to have been carried out by men under his command in 1998, when the rebels fought to free their largely ethnic Albanian region from Serbian rule.
Another rebel commander, Idriz Balaj, was also acquitted, while a third defendant, Lahi Brahimaj, was sentenced to six years in prison for torture and cruel treatment of prisoners.
The two men who were acquitted, who may return home as early as today, are expected to be given heroes’ welcome. The judges said that the trial had been subject to many shortcomings, including vague evidence and widespread fear among witnesses, suggesting that the full version of events had not been told.
The case against Haradinaj was fraught with difficulties. Western diplomats tried to dissuade Carla Del Ponte, who was chief prosecutor, from an indictment of Haradinaj, arguing that he was a respected political leader who played a necessary role in stabilizing Kosovo.
Within the prosecutor’s office, some lawyers also warned from the start that the case against Haradinaj was weak because it would be difficult to link him to the crimes.
Prosecutors complained repeatedly about pressure on the witnesses. Those most afraid, prosecutors said, were former fellow rebel fighters who had been expected to testify as insiders. At least three designated witnesses were killed before the trial, prosecutors said.
For Serbs, the acquittal of two of the former rebel commanders, whose forces were backed and supported by the West, is likely to be viewed as one more insult.
Kosovo has long been portrayed as a victim of Serbia. Only one other case at the tribunal has focused on the abuses and killings by fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army, although human rights groups have documented numerous killings and instances of mistreatment of those not siding with the rebels.
Oliver Ivanovic, who represents Kosovo Serbs, told the FoNet news agency in Belgrade that the acquittals would make it more difficult to demand that the Serbian government arrest Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. The two wartime Bosnian Serb leaders remain fugitives more than a decade after the war ended.
Serbs will see the tribunal as even more of a political, rather than a legal, institution, Ivanovic said. He added, “It will be now very difficult to convince any Serb that this is not an anti-Serb tribunal.”