PRISTINA, Feb 19 (Hina) - Indictments against four Kosovo Albanians, former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), charged with war crimes against Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo, provoked various reactions in Kosovo.
PRISTINA, Feb 19 (Hina) - Indictments against four Kosovo
Albanians, former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA),
charged with war crimes against Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo,
provoked various reactions in Kosovo. #L#
Three indictees were arrested in Kosovo while the fourth man,
Fatmir Limaj, turned himself in abroad. UN Civil Administrator in
Kosovo Michael Steiner said he was encouraged by Limaj's statement
that he was prepared to turn himself in to the Hague-based war
crimes tribunal. This is a good indication and a dignified path
towards fulfilling obligations towards the Hague tribunal, he
said.
Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said that Kosovo institutions were
ready to cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal. He expressed
belief the arrested men would be acquitted if proven innocent.
A senior official of the Kosovo Democratic Party, minister in
Kosovo's government and former spokesman for the KLA, Jakup
Krasniqi, said the charges against the four ethnic Albanians
provoked agitation and surprise.
MP Bajrami Kosumi of the Alliance for Kosovo's Future voiced
confidence the international law would win. "We believe the ICTY
and at the same time we believe that Fatmir Limaj was a liberator and
a hero, not a criminal," Kosumi said.
Limaj and the three former KLA members are charged with illegal
arrests, abuse and killing of prisoners -- Serb and Albanian
civilians -- detained in the Lapusnik jail near Glogovac, in 1998.
Their indictment was unsealed on Tuesday.
(hina) it