Kosovo: KLA ex-combatants extradited to The Hague

Hysni Gucati, the president of the KLA veterans association, was arrested by police and extradited to The Hague on September 25, 2020. AP Photo / Visar Kryeziu

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After the spectacular arrest of the former head of the military secret service of the UCK guerrilla on Thursday September 24 by the teams of the special prosecutor, another arrest took place on Friday: that of the president of the association of veterans of the UCK .

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With our correspondent in Belgrade,

The police operation was very spectacular.

The policemen, masked and armed, surrounded the headquarters of the very influential association of former KLA combatants.

Then European police officers arrested the president of the veterans association and searched the premises.

Hysni Gucati was subsequently extradited to The Hague, seat of the Special Court.

He will be tried for breach of court and intimidation of witnesses.

The KLA veterans association strongly criticized

which it calls racist because it only investigates crimes committed by the Albanians.

In recent weeks, the association had mysteriously obtained secret judicial files on the ongoing investigations that it tried to make public.

A direct threat to prosecution witnesses.

Kosovo had in the past experienced a problem with the protection of witnesses to war crimes, many of whom had been murdered.

As a result, several Albanian-speaking war criminals were released for lack of evidence, a situation that the Special Chamber does not want to see repeated.

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• Kosovo

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