Hague Prosecutors to Question Former Kosovo Deputy Minister

Gani Koci, a former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla turned politician, announced on Facebook on Thursday that he has been summoned as a witness by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague, which is probing wartime and post-war crimes in Koosvo.

"Dear comrades-in-arms, friends and well-wishers, I just received an invitation from the Specialist Prosecutor's Office to appear in The Hague on March 18, 2021, as a witness" Koci wrote.

He added that he will always act "in defence of the Liberation Army's just war".

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers were set up to try former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas for crimes allegedly committed during and just after the Kosovo war from 1998 to 2000. They are part of Kosovo's judicial system but located in the Netherlands and staffed by internationals.

Those awaiting trial for wartime crimes include Kosovo's former President Hashim Thaci and former Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK leader Kadri Veseli alongside two other guerrillas turned politicians, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Koci was a political prisoner from 1981 to 1991, jailed for participating in organising student protests against the Serbian regime that ruled Kosovo at the time.

In 1996, Koci became a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and after the war, he went into politics with the PDK.

He became an MP and was deputy minister of economic development in 2016. He remains a member of the steering council of the PDK.

In July 2020, Koci threatened several politicians and journalists on Facebook, including BIRN Kosovo's director, Jeta Xharra, saying they should be buried in concrete because they are "Serbian septic tanks".

"The time has come not to disinfect but to...