http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=04&dd=06&nav_id=
49153
Tanjug News Agency
April 6, 2008
"UNMIK main culprit for Haradinaj acquittal"
BELGRADE - Rasim Ljajic says the international
community, "UNMIK above all", is to blame for the fact
Ramush Haradinaj is free.
The ethnic Albanian, formerly one of the leaders of
the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, stood trial
at the Hague Tribunal charged with 1998 murders,
torture and rapes of Serbs, other non-Albanians but
also fellow Albanians, and was acquitted earlier this
week.
Now Ljajic, who is the chairman of the National
Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, says
UNMIK administration and its former chief Soeren
Jessen-Petersen, are the "main culprits for this".
“Well, he openly called Haradinaj his friend and he
did not hide his friendship with the Haradinaj family.
He personally helped him get a pre-trial release with
the excuse that Haradinaj is an important factor of
the political and security stability in
Kosovo-Metohija. However, since his release, the trial
has taken one direction and we now see how it ended,”
Ljajic said in an interview with the Belgrade daily
Press.
The Hague judgment quoted witness intimidation as one
of hte factors in the trial. "The trial chamber had
difficulty getting witnesses to testify because many
were too frightened to appear before the court," the
ruling read.
Ljajic also told the newspaper that decision to acquit
Haradinaj is an "extremely grave injustice, which can
in no way be justified".
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
