Hague Prosecutors to Question Kosovo Party Leader Veseli

Kadri Veseli said on Thursday that he has been invited for questioning by the Kosovo Specialist Prosecution in The Hague, which is investigating alleged violations by Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters during and just after the 1998-99 war.

"As one of the KLA's leaders, I received an invitation today from the Specialist Prosecution to be interviewed on December 4 in The Hague," Veseli, who served as parliamentary speaker until the recent elections, told a press conference in Pristina.

Veseli, who was one of the founders and leaders of the KLA, said that his time with the guerrilla organisation that fought against Serbian forces was "the proudest part of my life".

He said he would answer the call to be interviewed by the prosecutors, who are probing killings, abductions, illegal detentions, sexual violence and other crimes allegedly committed by KLA members from the beginning of 1998 to the end of 1999.

"I am convinced that this court [the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers] will prove the KLA's war was just and will stop the attacks on the truth of our people and the KLA," he added.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers is expected to try those indicted by the Specialist Prosecution. No indictments have been made public yet, however.

Since last year, the Specialist Prosecution has invited over 100 former KLA fighters for interview.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned in July after being asked to give an interview to the prosecutors as a suspect.

The Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecution are formally part of the Kosovo judicial system and operate under Kosovo law but are staffed by international judges and prosecutors.

They are widely resented in Kosovo, where many see the KLA as a...