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.
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
‘Today’ show’s Savannah Guthrie pleads for safe return of missing mother
- TV news host asks presumed captors to ‘reach out’ to family
- ‘We need to know … that she is alive,’ Guthrie says
TUCSON, Arizona: Popular US morning news anchor Savannah Guthrie posted a video message on Wednesday addressing anyone who might be holding her missing elderly mother, presumed abducted from her Arizona home this week, pleading for them to open a line of communication.
“We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please, reach out to us,” the co-host of NBC’s “Today” show said in the video message posted to Instagram.
The emotional appeal came three days after Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her home at the edge of Tucson by family members in what investigators said they believe was an abduction.
It coincided with a two-hour flurry of intense police activity at Nancy Guthrie’s home, where yellow crime-scene tape was strung up around the property for the first time this week and investigators were seen coming and going from the house.
FBI agents are assisting in the investigation.
Savannah Guthrie, 54, who appeared with her brother and sister in the video, said the family had heard media reports of a ransom note but was taking into account the fact that electronic images can be easily manipulated or faked.
The elder Guthrie was last seen on January 31 when she was dropped off at her home by relatives after having dinner with them, and she was reported missing the following day.
‘Her health is fragile’
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said the elder Guthrie had limited mobility and could not have left her home unassisted, and that her disappearance was being treated by investigators as a kidnapping.
Among other concerns for Nancy Guthrie’s well-being was that her health was dependent on daily medication.
“Her health, her heart is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer,” Savannah Guthrie said during the four-minute video.
The TV journalist, who has been co-anchor of “Today” since 2012, began Wednesday’s Instagram message thanking supporters for the outpouring of prayers.
“We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them too. Our mom is a kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light. She’s funny, spunky and clever. She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses. She loves fun and adventure. She is a devoted friend. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you’ll see,” she said.
In an update on the case issued earlier in the day, the sheriff said investigators had yet to identify any suspect or person of interest in connection with the presumed abduction. A press conference is scheduled for Thursday.
Nanos said investigators were aware of reports that some media outlets had received what appeared to be ransom notes, but he did not say whether those were being taken seriously.
US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he had spoken with Savannah Guthrie to let her know that all federal law enforcement would be at the “complete disposal” of the family and local investigators.
“We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely,” Trump wrote, adding, “GOD BLESS AND PROTECT NANCY!”
