PRISTINA, Feb 18 (Hina) - Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said on Tuesday that government bodies in Kosovo would cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
PRISTINA, Feb 18 (Hina) - Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said on
Tuesday that government bodies in Kosovo would cooperate with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
#L#
Rugova said that yesterday's arrest of the former Kosovo Liberation
Army officers was a matter for the Hague-based war crimes tribunal
and stressed that Kosovo institutions advocated the establishment
of the rule of law.
"NATO-led peacekeepers (KFOR) arrested the three men suspected of
war crimes. If they are not guilty they will be acquitted," Rugova
said after talks with Swedish Defence Minister Joerge Lung in
Pristina on Tuesday.
A member of the Kosovo parliament presidency, Hydajet Hyseni, said
on Tuesday that yesterday's arrests were not favourable events
despite the fact that Kosovo's orientation was to cooperate with
The Hague.
A KFOR commander, Italian General Fabio Mini hailed the arrest of
the three Kosovo Albanian guerrillas. Mini said that the three
ethnic Albanians -- Hajredin Baljaj, Isak Musliu and Agim Murtezi -
- had been charged with illegal arrests, abuse and the killing of 23
Albanians and Serbs in the Drenica region in May-July 1998.
Political representatives of the Serb community in Kosovo hailed
the arrests but warned that the three men were not the most
responsible persons for crimes against Serbs.
(hina) it sb