Old sins

A special court to investigate the crimes of the Army of the Liberation of Kosovo in The Hague took an investigation into the Haradinsky case - the premiere of the country and the former field commander

For the third time in the Hague, he was called as a suspect in war crimes of the antihero of modern Balkan history, the Prime Minister of the partially recognized Kosovo Ramush Haradinei. At the end of last week, he resigned and flew to Holland. On Wednesday, his first interrogation was held, during which Haradine, on the advice of lawyers, refused to answer questions from the court, but confirmed the consent to fulfill his “legal obligations”.

In the first two cases, fate was favorable to him. In March 2005, the International Military Crime Tribunal in the former Yugoslavia (MTBU) brought the Haradinei charges, according to which in 1998 he led operations on the violent eviction of the Serbs, as well as the reprisals of the Albanians and gypsies, who were suspected of cooperation with the Serbian troops. Three years later, the defendant was justified by all points of the prosecution. The chief prosecutor MTBU appealed this decision, but in November 2012 the tribunal justified Haradina completely. The judges ruled that the crimes incriminated to him took place, but he personally does not bear responsibility for them.

Now the Kharadina business is engaged in another instance - a special court and the prosecutor's office to investigate crimes of the army of the liberation of Kosovo (URC). He is part of the Kosovo judicial system, although he sits in the Hague, is funded from the European Union, and European judges work in it. On the extraterritoriality of the court, operating since 2016, the West insisted that did not see another opportunity to ensure its objectivity. The Kosovo Parliament had to choose between this decision and the formation of the court through the mechanisms of the UN Security Council. Given the position of Russia, China and others on the Kosovo problem, this could end for a prominent disaster. They voted for the Hague.

The Haradinay wore the aura twice in war crimes with chic: defending the interests of Kosovo, he could send to hell of any negotiators, flaunted sharpness in the expression of nationalist ideas, threatened the loss of work to President Kosovo Hashim Tachi for his readiness for territorial negotiations with Serbia, etc. From this, the reputation of the “Kosovo Rambo”, as he was called when he was the field commander of the URC for strong muscles and the ability to fight desperately, only grew. However, now clouds over his head can bring a real thunderstorm: the powers of a special court in the URC are unusually wide. He has the right to investigate, based on Kosovo legislation, “cross -border and international crimes, including military, as well as crimes against humanity”, committed from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2000. And if you consider that

The powers of the court are based on a report by PACE from January 2011 under the heading “Inhuman handling with people and the illegal turnover of human organs in Kosovo”,

It’s easy to imagine that it can open here.

According to honor, in the current leadership of Kosov, there are enough commanders of the very war that led to the emergence of a new state education in the Balkans. Some of them left their prison term and returned to official positions, including in the direct environment of the Prime Minister. Why did Kharadinina time come right now - a special court has not yet raised his gaze so high up?

There are two versions. One of them is shared by the President of Serbia Alexander Vucich. “The resignation of Ramusha Haradinina is a political trick, thanks to which he can achieve even more popularity, bypass his opponents,” he said at a press conference in Belgrade. “This will lead to an increase in extremist positions among the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohiya, where he is exposed to a warrior fighting for the integrity and unity of Kosovo, and all the others are not worthy of comparison with such a great leader.”

Another explanation is more voluminous. The bottom line is that Haradinei actually barricaded the path for the dialogue between Belgrade and Protina, and in fact-to Kosovo settlement, when at the end of last year he introduced 100 percent duties on goods from Serbia and categorically refuses to cancel them until the independence of Kosovo. The delicate, and then persistent criticism of this position from the European Union and the United States did not have consequences. The haradeine refused to take into account the proposal of the chairman of the Parliament of Kosovo Kadri, the fun to suspend the duties.

Alexander Vuchich spoke dozens of times - remove the duties, and we will sit down at the negotiating table! The lack of progress in this segment is concreted by the barrier on Serbia to the European Union and throws a shadow on the entire European integration process of Western Balkans. The already ineffective and extremely nervous, due to the reluctance of some old EU members, expand, this procedure, formally ongoing, puts the West Balkan candidates for the Union with poor relatives who were abandoned home. Unlocking the Kosovo impasse in such a context will seem to be a huge achievement.

In a word, it seems that in Brussels and/or Washington they could decide that it was time to change the current team in Protina. The Koha Group KOOHA Mediasurs said that the President of Tachi and the speaker of the parliament of fun will also be invited to testify to the Hague, and they need to think - to resign following the example of Haradina or go to court in their current quality.

The Kosovo crisis received a new color during a visit to Emmanuel Macron, who was in mid -July, who, as you know, is trying on the role of the collector of the Balkans. The tall Vuchich and miniature macron, shining with smiles, moved along the Belgrade stage like two brothers, and the younger listened to the elder said: “Serbia and Kosovo are European countries, and we want to translate this into facts. We will try to organize a new meeting of Belgrade - Prishtin in Paris, in September, in the presence of Chancellor Merkel, to look for a compromise. ”

This last word is a key term for Vuchich, when he talks about Kosovo settlement.