Former Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte said there is a lot more work to be done in relation to punishing war crimes in former Yugoslavia, Danas daily reports.
“Since the war in the Balkans, the International Court for former Yugoslavia defeated 160 leaders from high military and political ranks, not those who have committed the crimes, but those who were sitting at the table and organized crimes,” Del Ponte said, adding there are those who have committed these crimes and the international system should deal with that.
She also noted she thinks recognition of Kosovo came the way too soon, adding it is not right that Ramush Haradinaj holds the post of prime minister.
“Haradinaj does not deserve the post he holds today. He was convicted by the Hague Tribunal, but unfortunately the Court of Appeals set him free,” Del Ponte said. According to her, Kosovo had a privilege to be recognized as a state, but she thinks it was done the way too soon.
“Also, when we started our investigations, we faced huge problems, since nobody wanted us to do these investigations. Still, we need to see what will happen in Kosovo, and for me Kosovo is still under question mark,” she underlined.
One of the most serious charges, during her work as a prosecutor for crimes in the former Yugoslavia, was the so-called Yellow House case near Burel, in Albania, where, according to Carla Del Ponte was a secret clinic used for organ harvesting of around 300 Serb civilians, kidnapped by the KLA, Danas daily writes.
“We have tried to do the investigation in that yellow house, but we could not do so. Then, Dick Marty’s report came from the Council of Europe, that have confirmed all that. And now there is a court in Kosovo, but I have not heard it did anything and I doubt the light would ever be shed on this case,” Del Ponte said.
