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"Haradinaj could become KLA crimes court's first case" (B92, DW, Blic, RTS, KIM radio)

According to Deutsche Welle, talk about the possibility of France extraditing Ramush Haradinaj to the Special Court for KLA crimes is growing louder.

The head of the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution, Milan Petrovic, confirmed that this is a possibility, the German broadcaster said in a report published on its Serbian service website.

Haradinaj, a Kosovo Albanian politician and a former KLA commander, was arrested in early January in France on a Serbian war crimes warrant. A French court is yet to decide on Serbia's extradition request.

Deutsche Welle is reporting that Serbia suspects Haradinaj is responsible for 13 deaths, children among them, and that these allegations are corroborated by statements of 30 witnesses. The key point, the report added, is that Serbian authorities "insist these crimes were committed in 1999 and have not been previously considered by the Hague Tribunal" which acquitted Haradinaj of war crimes charges related to 1998.

Petrovic told the broadcaster that the case is "unburdened by any political connotation" and that Serbia expects France to extradite the suspect. But he refused to reveal any details from the extradition request, because the issue if witnesses is "especially sensitive - their situation is such that the secrecy of the investigation could be undermined, while the safety of the damaged parties and the victims could also be brought into question."

Petrovic said that Belgrade would not give up on prosecuting Haradinaj "until he is brought before a court and answers for the crimes we have charged him with."

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes.php?yyyy=2017&mm=01&dd=23&nav_id=100305