The Special Prosecutor's Office of the International Crime Court in Kosovo (SPO) in The Hague charged Kosovo President Hashim Thaci with a preliminary charge, which broke negotiations between the leadership of Serbia and the partially recognized state, scheduled for June 27. The meeting, organized at the initiative of the American administration, was to be held in Washington.
Now the parties have to decide on a new date for negotiations. As Richard Grenell, US President’s Special Envoy for Dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, wrote on Twitter, the US side is taking Pristina’s decision and expects the meeting to be re-planned.
Due to the new developments in Prishtina as a result of the indictment submitted by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, I have to return to my country to deal with the situation.
I informed Ambassador Grenell that I could not attend the June 27 meeting at the White House.
Thus, the diplomat commented on the statement of the Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti, who said the day before that he was forced to refuse to participate in the negotiations after Hashim Thachi.
“In connection with the recent events in Pristina, resulting from the indictment presented by the Special Prosecutor's Office, I am forced to return to my country to deal with the situation. I told Ambassador Grenell that I won’t be able to attend the White House meeting on June 27, ”he wrote on Twitter.
“The issue is linked to big politics”
The Special Prosecutor's Office of the International Crime Court in Kosovo (SPO) in The Hague reported on charges against the president of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo on June 24. Politics is charged with participation in war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and killings committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in 1998-1999.
The indictment states that Tachi and other defendants in the case can be held responsible for nearly 100 murders. The crimes they allegedly committed at that time were directed against hundreds of people, including Serbs and Roma, as well as members of other ethnic groups. The SPO report emphasized that the charge was the result of a lengthy investigation.
- UAC fighters
- Reuters
“In connection with the repeated attempts by Hashim Thachi and Kadri Veseli to complicate and undermine the work of the Special Chambers in Kosovo, the special prosecutor considered it necessary to publicly announce the charges. It is assumed that Tachi and Veseli carried out a secret campaign to repeal the law establishing the Court, and in other ways interfered with its work in order to avoid justice, ”the SPO website reports.
The prosecutor’s office also noted that with their actions Tachi and Veseli placed “their personal interests above the interests of the victims of their crimes, the principle of the rule of law and the entire people of Kosovo”.
As Elena Guskova, head of the Center for the Study of the Modern Balkan Crisis of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, recalled in an interview with RT, the investigation of the Tachi case began a long time ago, after the 2011 report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Albanian crimes committed on an ethnic basis.
“Before that, all the charges that were brought against the Albanians by the Hague Tribunal failed because either the witnesses disappeared or the evidence base was lacking. As a result, a special tribunal was created to investigate crimes committed in Kosovo, ”the expert explained.
In turn, MGIMO professor Elena Ponomareva noted that there is nothing strange in the fact that the process against former Albanian militants begins only now, many years after the war.
“Very often, real criminals are not judged, because they are associated with current politicians who occupy high posts in large states. When the political situation and preconditions change, an investigation can be launched. It is possible that we are also talking about some concessions to each other on the part of the leading powers, since the Kosovo issue is linked to big politics, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.
“Politically motivated court”
Recall that Hashim Thachi began to engage in political activities in his youth, while studying at Pristina University in the early 1990s, he led the student movement for the independence of Kosovo Albanians.
Subsequently, Tachi became one of the founders of the military-political organization “Kosovo Liberation Army” (KLA), and after the war he headed the interim Kosovo government, which existed from 1999 to 2000. Tachi also became one of the founders of the Kosovo Democratic Progress Party, which later became known as the Democratic Party of Kosovo. After she won the election in 2007, Tachi headed the permanent government and proclaimed Kosovo an independent state.
At the same time, in the official biography of the Kosovo president, posted on his website, he is silent about some aspects of his activities.
- Kosovo Security Force
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- © Armend NIMANI
The struggle for independence from Serbia, which was fought by Kosovo Albanians, was accompanied by the flowering of crime in the region. One of the key sources of financing for the KLA was the drug trade, in which the foreign Albanian diaspora was involved even before the war. Also, the Albanian separatists did not disdain human trafficking; Kosovo became one of the transit centers for the supply of illegal immigrants to Europe, primarily women, who subsequently had to engage in prostitution. To launder money obtained by criminal means, a fundraiser for the needs of AOK was used.
Terrorist and criminal activities are closely intertwined among the Kosovo separatists. As stated in a previously published report by Council of Europe Special Rapporteur Dick Marty, KLA activists such as Kadri Veseli, Fatmir Limay and Hashim Thachi were involved in organizing the killing, kidnapping and torture of people in Kosovo from 1998 to 2000.
At the same time, it was Hashim Thachi who stood behind the organized criminal system operating in Kosovo - such conclusions, in particular, came from the special services of the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy and Great Britain.
It should be noted that Tachi’s comrade-in-arms, Ramush Kharadinay, who served as the prime minister of Kosovo, also earlier came to the attention of investigators.
This became known in July 2019, when Kharadinaya was summoned to The Hague as a suspect. The politician resigned from the post of Prime Minister of Kosovo, noting that he does not want to harm the image of a partially recognized republic and will appear before the court in the case of KLA crimes during the war as a private person. Politicians are suspected of organizing deportation of Serbs and massacres of civilians.
Former KLA field commander Ramush Haradinai was already at the dock in The Hague - he was accused of organizing torture, murder and rape of civilians during the war. However, in 2008, the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued an acquittal against him, which outraged Belgrade.
“The International Tribunal in The Hague was from the very beginning a politically motivated court. It quickly became clear that he accused and condemned mainly the Serbs, the entire Serbian people. And Albanians were not sentenced to political punishment. I’m not sure that Hashima Thachi and Ramush Haradinaya will be condemned, it depends on the distribution of cards that are dealt by major political players. But in general, of course, they should sit in the dock, ”said Elena Ponomaryova.
A similar point of view is shared by Elena Guskova.
“Hashim Thachi committed many crimes, and the evidence base against him has been collected for years. So practically no one doubts his guilt, ”the expert noted.
Political respite
Negotiations between Serbia and partially recognized Kosovo are practically not progressing - the dialogue stalled at the end of 2018, after Pristina introduced trade duties against the Serbian side.
In addition, in September 2018, the Kosovo authorities introduced special forces to the north of the autonomous region of Kosovo and Metohija, which occupied the center of ecology and development in the municipality of Zubin Potok, and then dispersed around the lake and took control of the Gazivode hydroelectric station, which is controlled by Belgrade. These actions of the Kosovo side have also led to increased tension in the region.
At the same time, the conclusion of peace between Pristina and Belgrade remains a key condition for Serbia's accession to the European Union. Brussels is making some efforts to bring the positions of Kosovo and Serbia closer together: in the summer of 2018, negotiations between the parties took place under the auspices of the EU, which, however, did not lead to any breakthrough result.
- Donald Trump
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- © Leah Millis
Since the beginning of 2020, Washington has been trying to seize the initiative and assume the role of a key mediator in resolving the conflict. In mid-June, The Wall Street Journal, citing sources in the Trump administration, reported that the head of the White House had invited Serbian and Kosovo leaders to Washington for talks.
This information soon received official confirmation: the upcoming meeting was announced on Twitter by special representative of Donald Trump Richard Grenell.
- Serbian-Kosovo Dialogue Special Representative Richard Grenell
- AFP
- © Odd ANDERSEN
"Great news! I managed to secure promises from the authorities of Kosovo and Serbia to temporarily suspend the campaign to revoke recognition of independence (Kosovo. - RT ) and to stop efforts to obtain international membership in order to meet on June 27 in the White House in Washington to discuss further dialogue, ”he wrote. then an American diplomat.
Great news! I have received the commitment from the governments of Kosovo and Serbia to temporarily pause the derecognition campaign and the seeking of international memberships in order to meet in Washington, DC at the White House on June 27 for Dialogue discussions. (1/2)
- Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) June 15, 2020However, the initiative of the President of the United States caused an ambiguous reaction both in the United States itself and in Kosovo. Donald Trump's plans to begin the peace process in the Balkans were already known in April - commenting on this news, Albin Kurti, the acting Prime Minister of Kosovo, said that the American side would force events for political reasons.
“Grenell needs a quick deal to show that the (Trump administration. - RT ), unlike the (administrations) of Clinton, Bush and Obama, is able to successfully deal with crises in the world without any military intervention,” he emphasized. Kurti.
A similar assessment was given by a professor at Harvard University, a former special representative for Kosovo in the George W. Bush administration, Nicholas Burns. In his opinion, Donald Trump’s reluctance to involve European countries in the negotiations is a mistake.
This approach is shared by Elena Guskova. She explained that earlier all negotiations on Kosovo took place under the auspices of the European Union.
“However, the United States each time met in dialogue, wishing to show that without their participation, progress is impossible. At one time, the United States also hastened to recognize the independence of Kosovo, which, in essence, was their project. As a result, now the US authorities are again striving to take matters into their own hands and show Europe that they themselves can put the Albanians and Serbs at the negotiating table. But this attempt, fortunately for Serbia, failed, ”said the expert.
Elena Ponomareva adheres to a similar point of view. According to her, the situation in the region can only benefit from a breakdown in negotiations.
“Recently, the situation has been very tense. Everyone feared that Belgrade would still recognize an illegal formation - the Republic of Kosovo. Disruption of negotiations will not allow the situation to go along this line, it is in Serbian interests. Serbia received a certain technical pause in order to weigh the pros and cons. As for the United States, Donald Trump really seeks to resolve some issues on the European agenda, but sometimes behaves like an elephant in a china shop. And in the situation with the Kosovo-Serbian negotiations, we are observing the same thing, ”the expert summed up.