THE HAGUE: International prosecutors questioned Kosovo’s ex-prime minister and wartime guerrilla commander Ramush Haradinaj on Wednesday in the latest in a series of war crimes proceedings against him.
Haradinaj left the hearing at the special court for Kosovo in The Hague along with Jakup Krasniqi, a spokesman for his former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), who was also questioned.
“I responded today to the special tribunal’s request, as a suspect,” Haradinaj told reporters outside the special court’s high-security buildings.
“I used my right to remain silent,” he said.
Haradinaj was the commander of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the Western Kosovo region of Dukagjin, where heavy fighting and abuse of civilians occurred on both sides during the war.
Observers in Kosovo say he could be held accountable for having failed to prevent crimes committed by KLA members under his command.
Haradinaj said prosecutors did not confront him with “concrete” evidence on Wednesday, as they did not have to divulge any information at this stage according to the law.
“They talked about my role during the war, but they did not give me anything concrete... We asked for explanations but did not receive them,” said the former guerrilla.
Hesaid he believed “always to have been in line with what is right.”
“We have fulfilled our legal obligation, according to the laws in force,” Krasniqi told reporters. He did not say whether he himself was questioned as a suspect or a witness.
Haradinaj, 51, resigned last week as prime minister after being summoned by the court.
Created in 2015, the tribunal investigates crimes allegedly committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanian political opponents during and after the 1998-99 war.
Funded by the European Union and composed of international judges, the special court nonetheless falls under Kosovar law and is based in The Hague in order to protect witnesses.
Haradinaj has already been tried and acquitted twice for war crimes by another UN tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
“I always responded to (requirements) of national and international laws (but)... I also have my dignity,” Haradinaj told AFP in January.
The last conflict in the former Yugoslavia between the KLA and Serbian armed forces claimed more than 13,000 lives, including some 11,000 ethnic Albanians.
It ended when a Western bombing campaign forced Serbian forces to withdraw.
Two decades later Belgrade still does not recognize its former province’s independence.
Some thirty former KLA members have been summoned by the special court which has yet to file a single criminal charge.
“Freedom fighters always do what is right and just,” Haradinaj wrote on Facebook.
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Kosovo ex-PM questioned at war crimes court
Kosovo ex-PM questioned at war crimes court
- Haradinaj was the commander of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas in the Western Kosovo region of Dukagjin, where heavy fighting and abuse of civilians occurred on both sides during the war
- Haradinaj, 51, resigned last week as prime minister after being summoned by the court
Taiwan says Chinese drone made ‘provocative’ flight over South China Sea island
TAIPEI: A Chinese reconnaissance drone briefly flew over the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top end of the South China Sea on Saturday, in what Taiwan’s defense ministry called a “provocative and irresponsible” move.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, reports Chinese military activity around it on an almost daily basis, including drones though they very rarely enter Taiwanese airspace.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Chinese reconnaissance drone was detected around dawn on Saturday approaching the Pratas Islands and flew in its airspace for eight minutes at an altitude outside the range of anti-aircraft weapons.
“After our side broadcast warnings on international channels, it departed at 0548,” it said in a statement.
“Such highly provocative and irresponsible actions by the People’s Liberation Army seriously undermine regional peace and stability, violated international legal norms, and will inevitably be condemned,” it added.
Taiwan’s armed forces will continue to maintain strict vigilance and monitoring, and will respond in accordance with the routine combat readiness rules, the ministry said.
Calls to China’s defense ministry outside of office hours on a weekend went unanswered.
In 2022, Taiwan’s military for the first time shot down an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast controlled by Taiwan.
Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than 400 km (250 miles) — from mainland Taiwan.
The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national park, are only lightly defended by Taiwan’s military, but lie at a highly strategic location at the top end of the disputed South China Sea.
China also views the Pratas as its own territory.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, reports Chinese military activity around it on an almost daily basis, including drones though they very rarely enter Taiwanese airspace.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Chinese reconnaissance drone was detected around dawn on Saturday approaching the Pratas Islands and flew in its airspace for eight minutes at an altitude outside the range of anti-aircraft weapons.
“After our side broadcast warnings on international channels, it departed at 0548,” it said in a statement.
“Such highly provocative and irresponsible actions by the People’s Liberation Army seriously undermine regional peace and stability, violated international legal norms, and will inevitably be condemned,” it added.
Taiwan’s armed forces will continue to maintain strict vigilance and monitoring, and will respond in accordance with the routine combat readiness rules, the ministry said.
Calls to China’s defense ministry outside of office hours on a weekend went unanswered.
In 2022, Taiwan’s military for the first time shot down an unidentified civilian drone that entered its airspace near an islet off the Chinese coast controlled by Taiwan.
Lying roughly between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than 400 km (250 miles) — from mainland Taiwan.
The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national park, are only lightly defended by Taiwan’s military, but lie at a highly strategic location at the top end of the disputed South China Sea.
China also views the Pratas as its own territory.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
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