Prosecutors indict ex-Kosovo minister for contempt Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:35pm EDT AMSTERDAM, April 25 (Reuters) - Prosecutors at the U.N. war crimes tribunal have indicted two Kosovans including a former minister for allegedly interfering with a witness during the trial of Kosovo's former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj. According to the indictment, last July former culture minister Astrit Haraqija and a ministry employee Bajrush Morina tried to persuade a protected witness not to testify against Haradinaj, the court said in a statement on Friday. Both have been charged with contempt of court. A panel of tribunal judges cleared Haradinaj at the start of April of all charges of torture, rape, murder and persecution of Serbs during a 1998-99 separatist war, but noted "the significant difficulties encountered by the Chamber in securing testimony of a large number of witnesses". The court said in a statement that the witness in question was granted protection in 2005 and his unedited statements were disclosed only to Haradinaj, his two co-defendants and their lawyers. According to the indictment Haraqija was one of three co-founders of the "Defence committee for Ramush Haradinaj" and upon learning of the identity of the witness in July he instructed Morina to travel to the witness's country of residence to persuade him not to testify against Haradinaj. Morina met the witness on a trip paid for by the ministry, prosecutors allege. "The witness refused to succumb to the pressure and eventually testified at the trial," the court said. The contempt indictment was first filed to the court in January. (Reporting by Alexandra Hudson, edited by Richard Meares)
