Haradinaj calls on Belgrade to investigate

Ramush Haradinaj says he wants the War Crimes Prosecution in Belgrade to investigate the crimes it suspects him of. The former KLA leader was acquitted this month of all counts of a Hague indictment, that included murder, torture, rape, and deportation committed in 1998 in Kosovo, against the province's Serbs, other non-Albanians, but also loyal Albanians. Haradinaj calls on Belgrade to investigate The Hague Tribunal judge said in the ruling that "witness intimidation" played a part in the outcome of the trial. "During my command of the KLA in the Dukagin operative zone six Serb civilians were killed in different locations. This is what the indictment charged me with and nothing outside this indictment happened. If they think there is something, let them send the War Crimes Prosecution from Belgrade", Haradinaj challenged the authorities, in an interview for Jagodina's Palma Plus television. He also said it is "not true that nine prosecution witnesses were killed", narrowing this figure to "only one, who died in a car crash in Montenegro." "100 witnesses testified in the process against me," said Haradinaj, a former night club bouncer in Switzerland, and post-1999 war prime minister of Kosovo, speaking in Serbian. He revealed his Hague defense cost EUR 9mn, and said he had perfected his Serbian language skills while in detention at the UN war crimes court, as he "communicated in Serbian and watched Serbian TV channels". Also today, a Serbian newspaper, the daily Blic, carried a report that said Haradinaj's brother Daut "met with Muhammad, the brother of al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri". The alleged meeting took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, in August 2001, the newspaper said. The daily claims that a "number of intelligence services know about this". "There is proof that Daut Haradinaj took part in the clashes with Macedonian security services, because of which he was put on the U.S. terrorist blacklist and thrown out of the Kosovo Protection Corps," the report said, in reference to the 2001 clashes that broke out between the Macedonian authorities and armed groups of that country's ethnic Albanians. "The Haradinaj brothers took an active part in the setting up of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac [UCPMB] and the Macedonian National Liberation Army in late 1999 and at the start of 2000," Blic said. Haradinaj listens to the Hague verdict (FoNet)

Haradinaj calls on Belgrade to investigate

The Hague Tribunal judge said in the ruling that "witness intimidation" played a part in the outcome of the trial.

"During my command of the KLA in the Dukagin operative zone six Serb civilians were killed in different locations. This is what the indictment charged me with and nothing outside this indictment happened. If they think there is something, let them send the War Crimes Prosecution from Belgrade", Haradinaj challenged the authorities, in an interview for Jagodina's Palma Plus television.

He also said it is "not true that nine prosecution witnesses were killed", narrowing this figure to "only one, who died in a car crash in Montenegro."

"100 witnesses testified in the process against me," said Haradinaj, a former night club bouncer in Switzerland, and post-1999 war prime minister of Kosovo, speaking in Serbian.

He revealed his Hague defense cost EUR 9mn, and said he had perfected his Serbian language skills while in detention at the UN war crimes court, as he "communicated in Serbian and watched Serbian TV channels".

Also today, a Serbian newspaper, the daily Blic, carried a report that said Haradinaj's brother Daut "met with Muhammad, the brother of al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri".

The alleged meeting took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, in August 2001, the newspaper said.

The daily claims that a "number of intelligence services know about this".

"There is proof that Daut Haradinaj took part in the clashes with Macedonian security services, because of which he was put on the U.S. terrorist blacklist and thrown out of the Kosovo Protection Corps," the report said, in reference to the 2001 clashes that broke out between the Macedonian authorities and armed groups of that country's ethnic Albanians.

"The Haradinaj brothers took an active part in the setting up of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac [UCPMB] and the Macedonian National Liberation Army in late 1999 and at the start of 2000," Blic said.