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<https://www.b92.net/eng/news/world.php?yyyy=2018&mm=02&dd=28&nav_id=103597>
KLA crimes court prosecutor "made to leave due to US" - WorldEnglish
6-8 minutes
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David Schwendiman, chief prosecutor of a war crimes court for Kosovo, says he
is "made to leave the job at a critical stage of the tribunal’s work."
Izvor: B92, The Guardian Wednesday, February 28, 2018 | 13:10
(Getty Images, file, illustration purposes)
The Specialist Chambers ("special court") for crimes committed in Kosovo in
1999 is interpreted to be a criminal court for the crimes committed by the KLA
("Kosovo Liberation Army"), which is why it has been met with strong opposition
from top political leaders in Pristina. Both Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and
PM Ramush Haradinaj, former KLA leaders, on several occasions stressed that
they opposed the work of that court, but the EU and the US suggested that the
court should start working. Meanwhile, an initiative to abolish the court is in
the Assembly of Kosovo
The Guardian is reporting this
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/28/chief-prosecutor-for-kosovo-court-to-depart>
on Wednesday.
And Schwendiman has "no designated successor - largely due to inertia in the US
State Department," the article continued.
The newspaper quoted Schwendiman as saying that he had been "asking the State
Department for more than a year to make a decision about the future of the
position at the Hague-based court - but heard only a fortnight ago that he had
to leave by April, leaving virtually no time to find a replacement."
“I have been given no assurances. It has essentially been radio silence since
two weeks ago,” he told the British paper in a telephone interview.
The article notes that the court was established under "Kosovan law" - but is
based in The Hague "to shield it from political pressure and threats."
Although Schwendiman's three-year state department appointment as a senior
foreign service officer was due to expire two years before his term in The
Hague was up, the Guardian writes, "Obama administration officials assured him
his service would be extended to allow him to complete his tenure as
prosecutor."
“After the administration changed, I’m absolutely convinced that the
professionals in the department understood [the issues] but they were frank
with me that others in the department weren’t interested,” Schwendiman said.
"Schwendiman’s experience echoes frequent reports of indecision and paralysis
in a state department facing deep budget cuts and riddled with vacancies in its
top ranks," the newspaper said on its website.
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