Kosovo Albanian journalist rejects charge of naming war crimes witness
Kosovo Albanian journalist Baton Haxhiu rejected on Wednesday accusations by the Hague war crimes tribunal that he had endangered the life of a protected witness in the Ramush Haradinaj case by revealing his identity.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Wednesday, June 25, 2008
"Quite a few people knew his name.... Kosovo is a small country, secrets do not last long-especially when they concern the leaders of an armed struggle against the Serbs during the Kosovo war," Haxhiu told the court.
Haxhiu, editor of the daily Express newspaper, stands accused of contempt for having named a protected witness during the war crimes trial of former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj-chief of the Kosovo Liberation Army during the country's 1998-1999 war.
Former prime minister Haradinaj had been sought for the murder, torture and rape of Serbs and opponents in an alleged campaign of ethnic cleansing during the Kosovo war.
He was acquitted in April for lack of evidence in a trial at which several witnesses refused to testify in what the judges later conceded had been an atmosphere of fear.
Nine potential witnesses in the case were killed.
"Fear was a pre-eminent reason why witnesses did not wish to testify," the tribunal said at the time. "The court encountered significant difficulties in obtaining considerable numbers of testimonies." Thirty four out of 81 witnesses had to receive special protection.
Haxhiu was arrested in Pristina in May and faces a seven-year prison term and/or a fine of 100,000 euros.
He is the third Kosovo Albanian to be charged with contempt by the court. Former Kosovo culture minister Astrit Haraqija and his adviser Bajrush Morina are to be judged in September for allegedly intimidating a witness into not testify against Haradinaj.
