Kosovo Allies Return as Witnesses in The Hague

The former US State Secretary's assistant will testify before the Specialised Chambers in The Hague in defense of former Kosovo Liberation Army superiors: Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi all charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“U n The CK played a crucial role in the agreements signed by its leaders and in their promised demilitarisation”, Ruby said in an interview given on April 11th of 2023.

More than two years later, he said he would return “again at the beginning”, adding there is more to say about the events of the time.

Protection of the accused said the list of those who will testify on their side, starting on September 15th, is confidential.

In the media, however, several names circulated among them: Wesley Clark, William Walker, Bernard Kouchner and others.

The same was mentioned on a list that revealed protection in 2022.

Retired American General Clark led NATO's air campaign against Serbian military targets in 1999.

Speaking to Radio Free Europe several years later, he said NATO did the right thing when it intervened.

“... The action was taken because we were seeing the beginning of a repeat of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. That's why he pushed NATO to act. It was not just a humanitarian act, but a move to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, which was taking place in front of our eyes”, the former Supreme Commander of NATO Allied Forces said.

William Walker, in wartime, was chief of the OSCE's Verifering Mission, which began in October 1998 to oversee a ceasefire between Serbian forces and the KLA.

About three months later, in January 1999, Walker was at the site where 44 Albanian civilians were killed by Serb forces in the village of Recak.

He described the event as “crime against humanity”, then promoting a change of Western policy against Kosovo.

“Those who deny the massacre are involved in”, Walker said in December 2021.

As UN special representative Bernard Kouchner, he served in Kosovo from 1999 to 2001.

Speaking to reporters a few years later, he said “has never heard of the yellow house”.

The so-called “yellow house” is mentioned in a 2010 report to the Council of Europe, which was drafted by former Swiss Senator Dick Marty.

In that document, the term “yellow house” is used to describe a location in northern Albania, where it is suspected that former KLA members committed serious crimes, “including the trafficking of human organs”.

Marty's report preceded the creation of specialised rooms known as the Special Court in 2015.

The court is part of Kosovo's judicial system, but is comprised of international judges and prosecutors.

Its headquarters was established in The Hague to avoid the threat of witnesses.

The trial of four former KLA superiors began in 2023.

Thaci was political leader of The KLA before and during the 1998-99 war, Wessel was leader of the KLA intelligence service, Krasniqi was a spokesman, while Selimi was among the general staff.

The act against them includes charges of unlawful imprisonment, torture, murder, crimes against humanity, forced extinction and persecution of hundreds of civilians and people who did not want to participate in the fighting.

These crimes allegedly occurred between March 1998 and September 1999 in different countries in Kosovo, but also in northern Albania.

According to Specialised Chambers, Thaci, Veselin, Krasniqi and Selimi bear personal criminal responsibility for these crimes, but all have denied they are guilty.

Defence lawyers have said the KLA would never have won the support of the international community, if a criminal plan of the size prosecutors claim exists.

According to them, the indictment was built on a selective misinterpretation of events.

Charges of organ trafficking have not been proven and are not included in the current indictment.

The War Veterans' Organisation announced that a protest in The Hague will be held on 14 September in support of the accused. / REL/