Rubin: I hope with Thaci we shake hands in freedom

September 15th marked an extremely significant day for former KLA leaders who have been held at The Hague for nearly five years now.

At The Hague tribunal, he was giving the first testimony from 11 witnesses called by the defence of former President Hashim Thaci, James Rubin.

Details after his three-day testimony, the US Secretary of State's former assistant made it known that Thaci had not seen him for five years, according to him, not even in the courtroom had a word changed, not even looked at each other.

Although Rubin added that Thaci had him in mind all the time he was witnessing.

His attorneys made it very clear that they didn't want me to talk to anyone about the testimony while I was there. This is the usual”, Rubin said in “; Yehona political” in Klan Kosova.

On the other hand, Rubin said he hoped to see Thaci in freedom soon and to shake hands with each other, while the Special Court process and charges against Thaci called them terrible and false.

I really hope to see him soon after he is released from prison, I hope we will be able to shake hands with each other and be very pleased that I have been given the opportunity to help this horrible chapter in Kosovo's political history. The charges against him are false for two main reasons. The first was no vertical chain of command within the KLA that would enable him to give orders or make decisions. Even to the extent that there was a vertical chain of command was led by a man named General Ceku”, the former American diplomat said.

But, he added, if Thaci were convicted, Rubin said he would be terrified with this result.

I think the court would do a huge damage to international law itself because when I worked for Madeleine Albright, when we had founded the Tribunal for war crimes, in 1993, the first, the idea was to impose individual guilt, not blame on one party or the other”.

This is now what is happening, to blame Hashim Thaci and other KLA leaders for the things they did not know and could not be responsible, would be collective impeachment of Albanians, so violence would increase. So, it has to be found and punished, that's also the purpose of rule of law and these” tribulals, the former senior American official said.

Until, as far as the Special Court was founded, Rubin said he didn't think the United States was the key state in its initiative.

The “were European leaders who loved this court to show that Kosovo was following the rule of law. The U.S. may have supported this idea, but I don't think it was the engine driver of this,” said Ruby.

Rubin added that the special establishment may have been wrong, as well as hopes for the release of former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders.

Rubin also commented on Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's words, where he had criticised the Special Court that “Thaci is political hostage”. Rubin said that considering the many years for the indictment, according to him, it would be easier and more reasonable for Thaci to be protected by freedom.

On the other hand, he also spoke of Kosovo, where he said that unlike other interventions America has conducted in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, Kosovo is a success story.

All at the end of the interview at “Political Echo”, Rubin said his testimony to the country's former president, Hashim Thaci, in The Hague was the privilege of his life. /Periscopi/