Prosecutors Call Kosovo MP for Interview in The Hague

Rexhep Selimi, who served at the Kosovo Liberation Army's headquarters during the 1998-99 war against Serbian forces, announced on Sunday that he has been invited for an interview as a suspect by the Hague-based prosecutors.

However, he did not specify the nature of the allegations against him.

"Like almost all the members of the KLA's headquarters and many other freedom fighters, I have been invited for interview by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in the capacity of a suspect. The interview will be held during next week at the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in the Netherlands," Selimi wrote on Facebook.

Selimi is an MP with Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), a party which strongly objected to the approval of the laws which established the Specialist Chambers, which are expected to try those indicted by the Specialist Prosecution.

No indictments have been made public yet, however.

The Specialist Prosecution is 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.

Since last year, it has invited over 100 former KLA fighters for interview.

On Thursday, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, former Kosovo Assembly speaker Kadri Veseli, was also called for questioning by the Specialist Prosecution.

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 liberating force...

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