KOSOVO SERB MINISTER SAYS HAGUE ACQUITTAL COST
ALBANIANS, LOBBYISTS 50M EUROS
BBC
Monitoring International Reports - December 1, 2005
Excerpt from
report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA
Belgrade, 30 November: The
Serb minister [for return and communities] in the Kosovo government, Slavisa
Petkovic, said this evening that according to information which he heard in
Pristina, the Hague tribunal acquittal of Fatmir Limaj cost the Kosovo Albanians
and their lobbyists 50m euros.
"The decision of the Hague tribunal to
acquit the two members of the Kosovo Liberation Army [KLA, UCK in Albanian],
Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu, is, to put it mildly, a scandal. [Ethnic]
Albanians have been threatening Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force] and UNMIK [UN
Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] members for days and I cannot believe
that this pressure has borne fruit," the Belgrade media relay Petkovic as
saying.
The adviser to the Serbian president for cooperation with the
Hague tribunal, Jovan Simic, assessed that today's decision by the court to
acquit the two KLA members, Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu, could cause a storm of
protests, as no-one, to date, has been held responsible for crimes committed
against the non-Albanian population.
He added that it was absolutely
certain that there is sufficient evidence on the disappearance of a large number
of people, that people were murdered and on the destruction of the cultural
heritage.
"In a situation where no one person or organization is being
held responsible, the question arises whether we perhaps did this to ourselves,"
Simic said.
According to him, the fundamental question is, how is it
possible that "not one Serb has been acquitted, and how is it possible that
no-one in Kosovo is guilty of something for which innumerable pieces of evidence
exist".
The political representatives of the Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija]
Serbs were surprised by the Hague tribunal's acquittal of Limaj and
Musliu.
A member of the [Serbian] negotiation team [for Kosovo status],
Goran Bogdanovic, said that the decision has set a precedent, when one bears in
mind the fact that Limaj was a commander of a camp where Serbs and other
non-Albanians suffered and died and, according to his assessment, that fact
alone points to his responsibility.
He said that the decision of the
court, which was expected to dispense justice, has had a discouraging effect on
the Serb people in Kosovo-Metohija.
"I am surprised by the court's
decision, even though I view the Hague tribunal as a political institution," the
head of the Serb List for Kosovo-Metohija, Oliver Ivanovic,
said.
[Passage omitted]
Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in
Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1940 gmt 30 Nov 05
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