Kosovo War Veterans’ Deputy Leader Appears at Hague Court

KLA War Veterans' Organisation's deputy leader Nasim Haradinaj appeared at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday after being transferred from Pristina, where he was detained during a raid on the organisation's headquarters.

Haradinaj was arrested on Friday for allegedly obstructing justice and intimidating witnesses in cases at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which was set up to try former KLA fighters for wartime and post-war crimes from 1998 to 2000, including murder, torture and illegal detentions.

The arrest warrant said Haradinaj was suspected of distributing or allowing media access to confidential leaked documents on three separate occasions in September.

Three batches of documents from cases at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers have allegedly been anonymously delivered to the KLA War Veterans' Organisation, which has urged Kosovo media to publish them, although without naming witnesses. No Kosovo media outlet has done so, however.

Judge Nicolas Guillou said that Tuesday's hearing was "not a trial, the suspect has not been charged yet and no indictment has been filed by the prosecution".

The defence said that a preliminary motion to release Haradinaj has been filed.

His defence lawyer claimed that the Specialist Chambers do not have jurisdiction in the case because they are a war crimes tribunal. But the prosecution argued that the Kosovo laws that established the court give it the jurisdiction.

The judge ordered the prosecution to respond to the defence's motion by Friday.

Haradinaj told the court that he does not "accept [his] arrest and transfer" because he does not recognise the Specialist Chambers.

He was detained on Friday alongside the leader of the KLA War Veterans'...