Kosovo separatist leader summoned to The Hague
On Friday, all Serbian news agencies reported on an event that is of fundamental importance for the country. The so-called “Prime Minister” of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, has resigned, BBC Serbia reports. The separatist leader announced his decision at a meeting of the “government” of Kosovo.
Haradinaj told his associates that his statement could not be withdrawn. The reason for the resignation is the summons from the Special Court in The Hague to appear as a war crimes suspect. The brother of ex-militant Daut Haradinaj and the “president” of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, also received similar calls.
At the same time, in his speech to the “Cabinet of Ministers,” Haradinaj said that “the government must continue to function without stopping,” and also stated that the 100% duty he imposed on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be canceled.
The reaction from Belgrade came almost immediately. Thus, Milovan Dretsun, chairman of the parliamentary committee on Kosmet, said that this is good news.
“This is definitely positive news that will pave the way for justice for Serbian victims and punishment for those responsible for the crimes. It remains to be seen, but we expect that Thaçi, Veseli, and some other key people of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army will receive the same invitations,” Dretsun said in an interview with the Tanjug agency.
However, he clarified, it remains a question whether specific charges will be brought against Haradinaj. However, the Serbian politician believes that the fact of summoning the separatist “prime minister” to court is an important step towards clearing the political scene of the Albanians of the region from extremists.
Let us recall that, according to the Serbian side, the leadership of Haradinaj, as the leader of a gang and a terrorist, killed more than 300 Serbs, and about 4 thousand were kidnapped. He was accused in the late 90s by the Serbian authorities of 108 counts of crimes, including terrorism, murder of civilians, etc.
In 2005, charges were also brought by the Hague Tribunal. However, the case “stalled” - out of 98 key witnesses, nine key witnesses were killed or died under unclear circumstances, some refused to testify, and the rest did not appear in court. This allowed Haradinaj to remain free for a long time.
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