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Publication as smear campaign (Klan Kosova/Gazeta Blic)

By   /  12/08/2015  /  No Comments

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Klan Kosova’s executive director Baton Haxhiu writes in an op-ed that there is not list of possible indictees of the special court. “There are only witnesses and over 200 interviews and allegations of possible crimes”, he writes. All else is speculation and part of smear campaign against certain individuals, adds Haxhiu. He claims that the list that has been making rounds in the media circles has managed to trick many media outlets into reproducing it, including his television network, and this has seriously violated professional ethics. The media, instead, should have investigated the reasons as to why the list was published at precisely this time after the Kosovo Assembly already approved the establishment of the special court. Haxhiu also says that it is impossible for someone in the media to get a hold of a list which even the former lead prosecutor in the Special Investigative Task Force (SITF), Clint Williamson, may not possess. He argues that while Williamson did indeed investigate a number of people alleged to have been involved in committing crimes, no one knows for sure whether the prosecution will file an indictment against the exact individuals, at least not before the court is up and running. And as to the question of why would the media repost “a nonexistent” list, Haxhiu says that this is because the news websites and papers are willing to give space to anything if this in turn increases their virtual readership. The only way to avoid this morally unacceptable act, according to Haxhiu, is if the “rational” readers decide not to click on the websites of such media.

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