Commenting on return of Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj from The Hague, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Prva TV he has already said Haradinaj would spend 24 or 48 hours there and then come back.
“I have already said he would spent 24 or 48 hours there. Enough to check what hotels there are like. He waited to come during the night so the image would be more impressive, like a hero,” Vucic said.
Serbian leadership is ready to sign whatever it takes for Kosovo if it gets guarantees that it won’t fall from power, wrote Moscow Carnegie Center, B92 reports.
Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj’s trip to the Hague, on the other hand, does not promise quick progress in resolving the Kosovo issue. Serbian leadership, having learned from past experience, has skeptically accepted the news and believes that his Hague departure is yet another trick performed by the West to force Belgrade to make fresh concessions, the Carnegie Moscow Center stated.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met today with the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej in Belgrade today, Tanjug news agency reported.
Vucic said that the situation in Kosovo and Metohija gets more complicated every time they meet, adding Serbia was left nothing but to fight. He thanked the Patriarch Irinej because the Church has always been by its people and the state.
Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli were also interviewed by the Special Court for war crimes, but unlike Haradinaj they hid it from the public, Rada Trajkovic told “Dan uzivo” broadcast on TV N1, KoSSev portal reports.
According to her, many states, among them Russia as well, possess material evidence on organ trade, something that this country uses to make influence over Thaci and the negotiation process. On the other hand, Trajkovic opined preservation of his role in the dialogue is the only thing at Thaci’s disposal to prolong the beginning of the process against him.
After the hearing at The Hague Court outgoing Kosovo Prime Minister Haradinaj arranged secret meetings with his commanders of former KLA's operational zone Pastrik brigade, Belgrade-based Blic daily reports. According to the daily the prosecutor in The Hague had interrogated Haradinaj for an hour, and he refused to answer to his questions.
Blic further writes referring to its sources that during the conflict everything outside the Albanian border could not have happened without the approval of Haradinaj, as this was the part of the region under his control.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic commented today on the news that Ramush Haradinaj was interviewed in the Special Court for KLA crimes in The Hague saying that no one has brought the justice to the Serbs and he expects it won’t happen in the future either, RTS reports.
He underlined that double standards are at play and no one can answer the question – where are the rights and the justice? He also said Serbian tear has no parents nor would it have, and that Serbia must fight for the better future, but in a manner not to jeopardize it.
Ramush Haradinaj would face The Hague Court for the third time and it remains unknown if an indictment against him would be raised RTS reports today. Journalist Ljiljana Smajlovic said the witnesses are still the main problem when it comes to Haradinaj.
“Witnesses are the main problem with Haradinaj, they were afraid earlier to talk about KLA existence and let alone the crimes,” Smajlovic told RTS morning news edition.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, commenting on Ramush Haradinaj’s departure to The Hague yesterday, said he expects nothing but a farce and performance that “KLA protected the people from ‘Serbian aggressor’ and they were very successful”, RTS reports.
Asked if a date for Haradinaj’s departure to The Hague, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the unpunished crime against the Serbs in Staro Gracko was intentionally chosen, Vucic responded he thinks Haradinaj is not only connected to that crime but with many other crimes as well.
Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic said that Kosovo Prime Minister in resignation Ramush Haradinaj is not withdrawing, given his recent move. "He made this move in order to eliminate Hashim Thaci and the others on the political scene, and to return as a victim of the Court for the so-called KLA", Dacic told Prva TV.
"This is a tactical move, we will see whether he will be indicted or convicted", Dacic added.
Director of the Center for Regionalism, Aleksandar Popov told TV N1 resignation of Ramush Haradinaj could unblock the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, if there are no new elections. But in case he returns from The Hague without indictment, it could reinforce his and the position of his political party. Still, Popov did not exclude the possibility of ‘a political engineering.’