UCK - KLA Terrorist Shefqet Kabashi and Witness intimidation questions raised in Haradinaj retrial

24.8.2011 by janmalte.

SETimes
Published on SETimes (http://www.setimes.com)
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/08/23/feature-03
Witness intimidation questions raised in Haradinaj retrial

23/08/2011

As the retrial began, the main witness tried to avoid answering questions, again raising concerns about witness obfuscation and intimidation.

By Linda Karadaku for Southeast European Times in Pristina — 23/08/11

Ramush Haradinaj prior to his initial appearance at The Hague tribunal. [Reuters]

Former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj is back at The Hague tribunal for retrial on six counts of war crimes, including torture and murder of civilians who were actual or perceived Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) opponents

KLA members Lahi Ibrahimaj and Idriz Balaj are also on trial with Haradinaj.

In the opening statement Thursday (August 18th), prosecutor Paul Rogers called their actions “brutal elimination”.

Rogers described the KLA actions in four municipalities comprising the Dukagjini area. That included the first KLA headquarters in Haradinaj’s house and two headquarters in Jablanica, the key area providing evidence against the three defendants.

The prosecution also presented the cases of torture and murder of Ivan Zaric, Burim Beko and Agron Berisha in Jablanica.

The first trial ended in April 2008, when the two key witnesses did not testify, prompting serious questions about threats to influence them.

Haradinaj and Balaj were acquitted of 37 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, while Brahimaj was sentenced to six years in prison.

The Appeals Chamber disagreed and decided on a retrial in July 2010.

“This is a new trial and anything that has to be proved here, must be proved here,” Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson said during opening statements by both the prosecution and defence last Thursday.

The key witness in the retrial again is Shefqet Kabashi, a former KLA member who was back testifying again on Monday.

Kabashi was arrested in the Netherlands last Wednesday and detained at the tribunal until further notice. It had charged him with contempt of court in June 2007, when he escaped to avoid testifying despite a court order prohibiting him to do so, and then refused to testify via a video link.

The tribunal said that “Kabashi’s testimony is relevant to the retrial … as it relates to the defendants’ alleged responsibility for crimes committed at KLA headquarters and the prison in Jablanica.”

During the main hearing Monday, Kabashi lashed out against the court, accusing investigators of mixed testimonies and “mistakes”, and even attacked one of Haradinaj’s lawyers, Ben Emerson, for intervening.

Kabashi answered the majority of the prosecutor’s questions with “I do not know”, “I do not remember” and “I cannot answer the question.”

The prosecutor pointed out Kabashi’s signed statements, but Kabashi claimed he was forced to sign them and nothing written in them is true.

Asked whether he is afraid for his life, Kabashi said he is not. “I fear something else. I spoke about the other witnesses, not about myself.”

He testified that there was no detention centre in Jablanica, Western Kosovo and that the scrawled words “detention centre” on a hand drawn map were not his.

“It is not my writing in the map,” Kabashi said, adding, “I did not see detainees [there].”

The infamous “H room”, Kabashi said, was not used for detention but for soldiers to sleep. “I have slept myself there,” he said.

Haradinaj’s defence team co-ordinator Michael O’Reilly told SETimes the team is not concerned with Kabashi’s testimony.

“Absolutely not. He says nothing that implicates ‘RH’ in any way. Eighty-three witnesses were called in the previous trial and all but two came to court,” O’Reilly said.

He insisted there was no evidence brought to court that any witnesses were intimidated, and that prosecutors substantiated no such allegations.

“The retrial is a very complex legal situation. Haradinaj’s retrial is a historical precedent, regardless of what the final outcome may be,” attorney and former UNMIK employee Roland Gjoni told SETimes.

He said it is his opinion the judges “will possibly stop the prosecution from improving a weak case and convict an acquitted defendant.”

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