Indictments Loom as Questioning of Kosovo Ex-Guerrillas Intensifies

Those who are ultimately indicted are expected to be tried by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which were established in 2015 in The Hague, and grew out of allegations made in an explosive report by Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty back in 2010. An EU task force then looked into Marty's allegations and concluded there was enough evidence for prosecutions for offences like murders, abductions, illegal detentions and sexual violence.

The so-called 'Special Court', backed by the European Union but operating as part of Kosovo's justice system, has a mandate to address allegations of war crimes and political killings by the Kosovo Liberation Army between 1998 and 2000. 

Haradinaj said that some of the lawyers for those who have been summoned by the Hague prosecutors have informed them that there will soon be arrests. 

"It seems that the time has come for indictments and we are waiting for arrests very soon," he said.

Haradinaj repeated a widely-held opinion in Kosovo - that the Special Court is biased because its focus is on crimes allegedly committed by KLA fighters, not by Serbs. "It is also nothing new to say that this is a biased court because its credibility is shaken by its mono-ethnic target," he said.

He also expressed concern about the level of official support from the Kosovo authorities for the ex-fighters. "Our concern is that they are being supported in selective way. We strongly ask the authorities to help all of them equally and respect the law," he urged.

'Inhuman and degrading treatment'

Dick Marty at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in 2008. Photo: EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA.

According to Dick Marty's report for the Council of Europe, during wartime a small but highly powerful group of KLA...