Yesterday in the competent state institutions of Serbia nobody wanted to officially confirm whether the central warrant for the Kosovo Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci withdrawn or is in force. The Office of the War Crimes sent us to Interpol, and the Serbian Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Justice. Danas was told unofficially in multiple sources that warrant still exists, but they did not want to answer the question about the possible arrest of Thaci in Belgrade.
The state institutions in Belgrade yesterday, in addition to the status of Thaci’s arrest warrant, did not want to comment either the administrative procedure for the Thaci’s arrival. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, today said that they have nothing to do with it, because Serbia does not recognize Kosovo, and the Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said yesterday that about the conference, to which Thaci was invited, “he learned from the media.”
The Office for Kosovo and Metohija also declared incompetent for Thaci, to which we were yesterday sent from the Government of Serbia in Nemanjina 11, as well as non-governmental organizations that so far have been hosts to the Kosovo ministers, where they say that such visits were organized with the assistance of the Office for KiM and EULEX, and in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Government of Serbia refused to say whether Belgrade maybe guaranteed Thaci that he, however, will not be arrested.
The Youth Board of Education told Danas that they cannot comment on the question as to whether the organizers of the conference, to which Thaci was invited, have a confirmation from the authority that their guest will not be arrested for warrants. They say that the agenda for the conference is still open and that all the details about the participants would be known by the end of the week.
The district court in Pristina in 1997 sentenced a former KLA commander Hashim Thaci in absentia to 10 years in prison for the crime of terrorism. In February 1998, a warrant was issued for him, which was extended in 2002 on charges of genocide. The last time when Thaci had problem because of the arrest warrant was in June 2003 in Hungary, where he was kept at the Budapest Airport. He was released with several interventions from high places in the West. Since the introduction of a UN protectorate in Kosovo, as far as we know, he did not come to other parts of Serbia.
– The question of warrant for Thaci by the Serbian authorities will have to be resolved in the next two days. If the warrant is withdrawn, Thaci will most likely be in Belgrade on April 24 to attend the conference “EU integration of the Western Balkans”, organized by the NGO Youth Education Committee – told Danas political analyst Dusan Janjic.
From the viewpoint of the EU, Thaci’s arrival is desirable. Maybe even a condition for normalizing relations, because it is the chief negotiator in Brussels, who as prime minister together with Ivica Dacic signed first Brussels Agreement. If it is not marketing trick of a new NGO, it is clear that this international meeting could not be organized without the co-operation with the Government of Serbia, its Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Aleksandar Vucic and Ivica Dacic – says Dusan Janjic.
