7 hours agoSpecial Agent Jack Smith: ZPS only focuses on individuals, not on KLA
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)In his opening statement at the beginning of the first trial under way in the Specialised Chambers, in the court case against Salih Mustaf, Prosecutor Jack Smith described Kosovo's Specialised Chambers as a court that “was inspired by Kosovar voices and created by acts of the people of Kosovo” and that is [...]
Prosecutor Smith stressed that a prosecutor's work relates to individual responsibility for crimes that may be proven outside reasonable doubt and that the specialised Chambers' criminal responsibility for crimes is personal. “Z SP does not press charges against U n The CK or the fight it fought for Kosovo independence. It's neither duty nor desire of the SPS or of mine to do that,” said Prosecutor Smith.
“As a prosecutor, it's outside my jurisdiction to argue or decide which wars were fair and which were not, but I can say that war crimes by one party did not judge the war crimes of the other,” the Prosecutor Smith added. But what could be more important, I also know that truth never harms a cause that is right. ”
Prosecutor Smith made clear his view that this should be a court for the victims and about the victims. Stressing that many victims “have been forced to wait two decades to seek justice for crimes committed against them and members of their families who are no longer among us, he explained: “If we want to serve these victims properly, there should never be an expiration date about responsibility. ”
About the victims in the case against Mr. Mustafa, Prosecutor Smith noted that while in other cases Z has filed The SP victims were a mixed group, Albanians, Serbs, Roma and persons of other Kosovo nationalities, all the victims of the accused were Kosovo Albanian countrymen.
Prosecutor Smith said: “These persons were not enemies of the state of Kosovo, they were not spies. They were community associates, innocent Kosovo Albanians whose only crime was considered, for one reason or another, as an obstacle to The KLA and several of its appointed leaders were therefore labeled collaborators.
The true “, as presented before this Court in the coming weeks, is that certain KLA leaders, including Mr. Mustafa, used their powers to victimise and brutalise Kosovo's countrymen, including individuals whose single crime was that they had political views different from those of the KLA and its leaders. ”
Prosecutor Smith stressed that the proceedings against Mr. Smith Mustafa must be carried out in line with the highest international standards and urged the defendants of the Court to follow how it works, both during the current trial and during those to follow, before they issue a trial for him.
This court's “The work of this court presents an opportunity,” he said. “A chance for Kosovo to leave behind the problems of this war once and for all. An opportunity for the victims to hear the voice, and to be heard in an environment where they can tell the truth without fear of threats or punishment. ”
