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Western diplomat: Thaci could be indicted for war crimes this year (Koha)

By   /  08/03/2016  /  No Comments

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As he gets ready to take on the post of Kosovo president, Hashim Thaci is facing mounting speculation of whether he could be summoned to the court due to open in The Hague this year, trying crimes allegedly committed by senior KLA members, Koha writes quoting an AFP report. The president-elect has expressed his “full support” for the new war crimes court, despite a question mark hanging over whether he himself will be indicted. Thaci has consistently denied the explosive claims, telling AFP ahead of his election to the presidency that “under no circumstances did I violate international law”. Seventeen years after the war, the special court is being established to try crimes allegedly committed in 1999-2000 by members of the KLA against ethnic minorities and political opponents. The former chief prosecutor of the EU Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) formed in 2011 to probe allegations against the KLA members had said in 2014 that their findings were largely consistent, and included “compelling evidence” to indict certain senior KLA officials for crimes against Serbs, Roma, other ethnic minorities and Albanian opponents. “On this basis, Thaci should figure among those who will be indicted before the end of this year,” a Western diplomat in Kosovo told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Though building a solid prosecution case against Kosovo’s most senior political figure will depend on who is willing to testify against him.” The diplomat said Thaci’s ascension to head of state “will raise the stakes in any indictment”, but he added that the new president “will be eager to clear both his own name, and the reputation of the KLA”.

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