THE HAGUE: The prosecutor for a special tribunal set up to try crimes committed in the Kosovo conflict in the late 1990s vowed on Tuesday to do everything possible to protect witnesses, who could be “at risk from everything from death to intimidation.”
The Kosovo specialist chambers, funded by the EU and set up in The Hague late last year, was established to investigate and prosecute crimes allegedly committed by top members of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as it battled Serbian forces in the 1998-1999 war.
The accusations were included in a 2010 report to the Council of Europe, and detail claims of assassinations, unlawful detentions and organ trafficking, during and after the Kosovo guerillas’ war of independence.
There has been fierce speculation over who could be targeted by the first indictments, including whether Kosovo’s current president Hashim Thaci, the former political leader of KLA, is on the list.
Prosecutor David Schwendiman again refused to be drawn on any details of who could be targeted or when the first indictments may be issued.
But he acknowledged, during a meeting with reporters in The Hague, that his office was “attuned” to the risks facing potential witnesses.
“We will do everything we can to try and give them the comfort and protection they need to participate,” he said, saying special measures were being taken.
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Kosovo court prosecutor vows to protect witnesses
Kosovo court prosecutor vows to protect witnesses
Pakistan combing for perpetrators after deadly separatist attacks
- Around a dozen sites where the attacks took place — including the provincial capital Quetta — remained sealed off
- The Baloch Liberation Army, the province’s most active militant separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attacks
QUETTA, Pakistan: Pakistan forces were hunting on Sunday for the separatists behind a string of coordinated attacks in restive Balochistan province, with the government vowing to retaliate after more than 120 people were killed.
Around a dozen sites where the attacks took place — including the provincial capital Quetta — remained sealed off, with troops combing the area a day after militants stormed banks, jails and military installations, killing at least 18 civilians and 15 security personnel, according to the military’s count.
At least 92 militants were also killed, the military added, while an official said that a deputy district commissioner had been abducted.
Mobile Internet service across the province has been jammed for more than 24 hours, while road traffic is disrupted and train services suspended.
After being rocked by explosions, typically bustling Quetta lay quiet on Sunday, with major roads and businesses deserted, and people staying indoors out of fear.
Shattered metal fragments and mangled vehicles litter some roads.
“Anyone who leaves home has no certainty of returning safe and sound. There is constant fear over whether they will come back unharmed,” Hamdullah, a 39-year-old shopkeeper who goes by one name, said in Quetta.
The Pakistan military said it was conducting “sanitization operations” in the areas that had been targeted in Saturday’s attacks.
“The instigators, perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of these heinous and cowardly act... will be brought to justice,” it said in a statement Saturday night.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the province’s most active militant separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement sent to AFP.
The group said it had targeted military installations as well as police and civil administration officials in gun attacks and suicide bombings.
Saturday’s attacks came a day after the military said it killed 41 insurgents in two separate operations in the province.
Pakistan has been battling a Baloch separatist insurgency for decades, with frequent armed attacks on security forces, foreign nationals and non-local Pakistanis in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Pakistan’s poorest province despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, Balochistan lags behind the rest of the country in almost every index, including education, employment and economic development.
Baloch separatists have intensified attacks on Pakistanis from other provinces working in the region in recent years, as well as foreign energy firms that they believe are exploiting its riches.
The separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board last year, sparking a two-day siege during which dozens of people were killed.
Around a dozen sites where the attacks took place — including the provincial capital Quetta — remained sealed off, with troops combing the area a day after militants stormed banks, jails and military installations, killing at least 18 civilians and 15 security personnel, according to the military’s count.
At least 92 militants were also killed, the military added, while an official said that a deputy district commissioner had been abducted.
Mobile Internet service across the province has been jammed for more than 24 hours, while road traffic is disrupted and train services suspended.
After being rocked by explosions, typically bustling Quetta lay quiet on Sunday, with major roads and businesses deserted, and people staying indoors out of fear.
Shattered metal fragments and mangled vehicles litter some roads.
“Anyone who leaves home has no certainty of returning safe and sound. There is constant fear over whether they will come back unharmed,” Hamdullah, a 39-year-old shopkeeper who goes by one name, said in Quetta.
The Pakistan military said it was conducting “sanitization operations” in the areas that had been targeted in Saturday’s attacks.
“The instigators, perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of these heinous and cowardly act... will be brought to justice,” it said in a statement Saturday night.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the province’s most active militant separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement sent to AFP.
The group said it had targeted military installations as well as police and civil administration officials in gun attacks and suicide bombings.
Saturday’s attacks came a day after the military said it killed 41 insurgents in two separate operations in the province.
Pakistan has been battling a Baloch separatist insurgency for decades, with frequent armed attacks on security forces, foreign nationals and non-local Pakistanis in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Pakistan’s poorest province despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, Balochistan lags behind the rest of the country in almost every index, including education, employment and economic development.
Baloch separatists have intensified attacks on Pakistanis from other provinces working in the region in recent years, as well as foreign energy firms that they believe are exploiting its riches.
The separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board last year, sparking a two-day siege during which dozens of people were killed.
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