Life in Kosovo discusses about emergency situations
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Every Thursday starting from 20:30, Radio Television Kosovo, RTK, broadcasts the TV debate show "Life in Kosovo", a joint production of BIRN and RTK.
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Life in Kosovo: international justice and war crimes committed in Kosovo
26 February 2009 This Thursday’s “Life in Kosovo” show discussed international justice in regards to Kosovo, war crimes and their prosecution in Kosovo.
The debate took place after the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague, ICTY, acquitted Milan Milutinovic, a former president of Serbia, and ordered his release from custody.
What have we done to in terms of reporting war crimes, and to others who committed crimes in Kosovo, now Kosovo functions as a state? Does the EU mission, EULEX, have anything to say on war crimes in Kosovo? What have they inherited from UNMIK regarding war crimes? Are the charges for war crimes being used for to keep Kosovar politicians in line? Why doesn’t UNMIK have anything to say? Is Kosovo intending to sue Serbia for genocide and reparation?
To discuss these issues and analyse the judicial procedure against the ex-president of Serbia for war crimes in Kosovo, Betim Musliu’s guests were:
Rame Manaj – Deputy Prime Minister ;
Nekibe Kelmendi – Minister of Justice ;
Tome Gashi – lawyer. ;
Behxhet Shala – head of the Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms. ;
The panel noted that this was the first time the Hague tribunal had issued a verdict on the war crimes committed in Kosovo in 1999.
The debate started with a question directed to Nekibe Kelmendi, the Minister of Justice, and a person who lost members of her family to the Serbian regime.
Citing the former ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, Kelmendi noted that the crimes committed in Kosovo were in opposition to the Human Rights Covenant
approved by the UN General Assembly back in 1948.
She also added that while the tribunal set minimum sentences of 20 years and maximum ones of life for such crimes, “Today we saw that the five accused were sentenced to a total of 96 years for 15,000 deaths”.
Rame Manaj, the Deputy Prime Minister, said that the verdict was more like an acquittal than a sentence of guilt.
“We all know that there can’t be equality between crime and sentence… but after all the crimes committed, the rapes, massacres and kidnappings in Kosovo, the leadership that led these acts received a verdict of acquittal rather than a sentence.”
Adding to Manaj’s words, Kelmendi said a verdict sentencing only five people for all the crimes committed in Kosovo was utterly unsatisfactory.
Tom Gashi, lawyer at the Hague tribunal, expressed sympathy for Nekibe Kelmendi and Rame Manaj, as panelists whose families had been devastated by the war.
Asked why Milutinovic was acquitted, Gashi said one of the main reasons was the Hague tribunal’s desire to establish a form of equilibrium, as many Kosovar commandants who had been accused of crimes had been later released.
Gashi added: “We have to wait for the formal reasons to be given by the tribunal, although it has never hidden the fact that it is a political court.”
He said Milutinovic should have been sentenced to jail because he had exercised command responsibility over the forces that carried out the crimes in Kosovo.
“I was not surprised with the verdict,” Behxhet Shala, from the Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, said. “I agree with what Tome Gashi said. The Hague tribunal is a political court, which decided everything on a political basis.
“As for its responsibilities towards the Hague tribunal, Kosovo did not fulfill its responsibilities for the witnesses it sent. There was a tendency for witnesses to cause confusion and not to be convincing about what actually happened in Kosovo,” Shala added.
Later, BIRN broadcast an interview with Bernard Rabatel, deputy head of justice in EULEX, who told Krenar Gashi what they had been doing since they became operational.
Asked why local prosecutors could not deal with all cases, Rabatel said some were under EULEX’s jurisdiction, though the local courts did have competences on some serious cases.
Rabatel also told Gashi that war crimes were EULEX’s priority and that among 250 cases that EULEX received from UNMIK, around 50 had to do with war crimes.
BIRN broadcast another interview with Russell Geekie, UNMIK spokesperson, who told Gashi that the justice department in UNMIK was closing down.
Asked about the accountability and responsibility that the departing staff of the UN mission were ready to accept, Geekie said their reputation spoke for itself.
“I believe these people have done an excellent job in justice, which can easily be seen by the fact that most are now independently employed by EULEX,” he added.
Back in the studio, Rame Manaj said UNMIK had promised a lot but had failed to complete or even initiate matters on some issues.
“The greatest negligence concerning what UNMIK has done lies in the judicial sphere,” Gashi said. “I personally believe that all the prosecutors and judgeswho worked in the UNMIK era should be dismissed.
”The debate ended with Musliu’s remarks on EULEX being the only body competent to deal with war crimes in Kosovo, and noting that while Serbia had already sued Kosovo for war crimes, it was unclear whether Kosovars would be compensated for what they suffered.
After the segment on Kosovo’s Son-in-Law’s discovery of the new America, BIRN broadcast a municipal debate between host Jeta Xharra and the mayor of the municipality of Lipjan.
Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television,
RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is
broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.
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