Kosovo’s former prime minister, a close Western ally when he led a rebel movement against Serbia, was acquitted on Thursday by a UN court of war crimes. The decision clears him to return to politics in his newly declared independent nation.
Ramush Haradinaj, 39, who was a leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1998 to 1999 war, was acquitted of 37 counts of murder, torture and rape. Although the crimes were committed by KLA soldiers, Haradinaj was exonerated of responsibility and of a conspiracy to drive ethnic Serbs from Kosovo to seize complete control for ethnic Albanians.
He was due to be released from a UN jail and to return to Kosovo yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
Cheers erupted from the public gallery as presiding Judge Alphons Orie announced the verdict.
Haradinaj himself kept looked downwards and showed no sign of expression.
After the judgment, Haradinaj already was sounding like a statesman again.
“This is a verdict that strengthens Kosovo,” he said in a statement released by his legal team.
“We endured a difficult liberation struggle that cost many lives. Today we are a free and sovereign nation. We can now build a dynamic and united society that is based on the rule of law and respect for the fundamental rights of all citizens.,” he said.
In Pristina, the Kosovo capital where the judgment could be watched online, ethnic Albanians took to streets, honking horns and waving Albanian and Kosovo flags to celebrate.
In Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that Haradinaj’s acquittal presented a “mockery of justice” and a “new, big crime against the Serbs” in Kosovo.
Public reaction in Serbia ranged from disbelief to scorn. Nationalists urged an end all cooperation with the UN court, which has demanded the surrender of four more Serbian fugitives.
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