Head prosecutor of the Special Court on war crimes committed in Kosovo David Schwendiman told Večernje Novosti that he did not issued the warrant for the arrest or extradition of Ramush Haradinaj.
"Haradinaj was arrested by French authorities based on a Serbian warrant, which has issued it independently. That has not been done at my request," he said.
In his first interview since appointed chief prosecutor of the new Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, David Schwendiman, told BIRN that suspected criminals are the target of his work, not the Kosovo Liberation Army. “I am not after organisations, I am not after ethnicities, I am looking at individual responsibility for what was done,” David Schwendiman said.
The Serbian government supports the work of the special court for the war crimes committed by the KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army").
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said this on Thursday during a meeting in Belgrade with the court's chief prosecutor, David Schwendiman.
Almost two years since the Kosovo parliament adopted the law on the establishment of the Special War Crimes Court, Pristina was visited by recently elected special prosecutor of the court David Schwendiman, where he spoke with the Chief Prosecutor Aleksandar Ljumezi.
On the occasion of the announced visit of David Schwendiman to Belgrade, the Association of Families of the Kidnapped and Murdered in Kosovo invites him to visit the memorial room "Victims of Kosmet".
The Association addressed this invitation in order for the international prosecutor David Schwendiman could see over 2,500 photos of the kidnapped and murdered Serbs, Roma, Gorani, Muslims and Albanians.
During my term in the office of the Special Prosecutor, I will be guided by the facts and the law, I'll do my job without fear or bias, said in Pristina, the Special Prosecutor for War Crimes in Kosovo, David Schwendiman.
Schwendiman will visit Belgrade in the coming days.
The chief prosecutor of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, David Schwendiman, met today in Pristina Kosovo’s chief prosecutor, Aleksander Lumezi. The prosecutors discussed the organization, functions, power and jurisdiction of the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. Also, during the meeting they discussed the cooperation between the Specialist Prosecutor's Office and Kosovo’s Special Prosecution Office (SPRK).
In a press conference today, the general secretary of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Fidelma Donlon, said this mechanism will officially begin work early next year while the recently-appointed chief prosecutor of the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, David Schwendiman, said that it is not yet known how many indictment the court will file against former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) accused in the Council of Europe report of serious crimes. He said however that he will fearlessly pursue all allegations of crime.
The first indictments for war crimes of the KLA likely to be raised by year-end, writes daily Politika.
According to unofficial information of the Fund for Humanitarian Law, Politika writes, so far have been prepared indictments against eight persons.
- If there are privileged who will avoid justice, a situation similar to that of the Hague Tribunal, of course, it will not be the highest international standards, unless one thinks that what was done in The Hague is the highest standard - said Drecun.
Nevertheless, he considers that the prosecution team engaged quite seriously with gathering evidence in recent months, and how many indictments will be it depends primarily on the results of their work, but also from the fact whether there will be political pressures.