By Sylejman Kllokoqi and Llazar SeminiAssociated Press/
PRISTINA, Kosovo — The prime minister of Kosovo on Thursday canceled his plans to attend a White House meeting with leaders of Serbia following the indictment of Kosovo’s president on war crimes charges stemming from the 1990s armed conflict between the two Balkan countries.
Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said he informed U.S presidential envoy Richard Grenell of his decision, which is likely to torpedo the talks. Grenell had expected Hoti to fill in for Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and co-lead the talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Thaci called off his trip to Washington after learning Wednesday of the indictment charging him and nine other former Kosovo rebel fights with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder.
Thaci has not returned to Kosovo yet and his close staff could not say where he was or when he would be back home.
Grenell posted on Twitter that he understood Hoti’s decision to cancel participation in Saturday’s discussions and “we look forward to rescheduling the meeting soon.”
The White House meeting on Saturday was to be the first talks between Serbia and Kosovo in 19 months. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Serbia has not recognized. The United States and the European Union have been working to help normalize ties between the two countries.
The EU has been leading negotiations for nine years, and the Washington meeting wasn’t coordinated with Europe. EU spokesman Peter Stano did not comment on the White House talks Thursday, He repeated that the EU was committed to facilitating the dialogue and said it would resume in Brussels next month.
“There is no alternative to the EU-facilitated dialogue to address the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” Stano said.
Hoti met Thursday in Brussels with European Council President Charles Michel to talk about visa rules, the coronavirus impact and other issues.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers said Thaci and the nine others “are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” of Serbs and Roma, as well as Kosovo Albanian political opponents. Other charges include enforced disappearance, persecution and torture, he said.
A pretrial judge at The Hague-based court is studying the indictment and could still reject it if there is not enough evidence to back it up.
Independent analyst Agron Bajrami said the future of the entire Kosovo-Serbia dialogue is in doubt.
“It will be very difficult for him (Thaci) to continue acting as a president, if not for anything else but for the fact that he cannot be part of the dialogue now that this has occurred,” said Bajrami.
Isa Mustafa, leader of the ruling Democratic League of Kosovo, said that the country’s political parties should first convene and talk before meeting with Serbia. He also called for all institutions to continue to operate normally, or “it would be an illusion we could continue toward an agreement.”
Parliament postponed Thursday’s normal weekly session.
Thaci was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation army, or KLA, that fought for independence from Serbia. The fighting left more than 10,000 dead — most of them ethnic Albanians — and 1,641 are still unaccounted-for. It ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign that forced Serbian troops to stop their brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Those indicted include Kadri Veseli, former parliament speaker and leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, who said he considered the indictment politically motivated.
The indictment was the first made by the prosecutor of the special tribunal for Kosovo based in The Hague. The court has been operating since 2015 and has questioned hundreds of witnesses. Another Kosovo prime minister resigned last year before he was questioned.
Hysni Gucati, head of the war veterans organization, accused the Special Court of being “a racist court because it is unilateral.” He mentioned some 460 massacres, more than 16,000 dead, including 1,200 children and 200,000 houses burned during the 1998-1999 war.
He also said the court was politically motivated and the indictments were likely an act of revenge by Europe, which was left out when Thaci turned toward the U.S. to take the leading role in the dialogue.
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia remain high. European Union-facilitated negotiations to normalize their relations started in March 2011 and have produced some 30 agreements, but most of them have not been observed.
***
Kosova president, 9 others indicted on war crimes charges
By Zenel Zhinipotoku and Llazar Semini- Associated Press/
PRISTINA, Kosova — Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and nine other former separatist fighters were indicted Wednesday on a range of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges, including murder, by an international prosecutor probing their actions against ethnic Serbs and others during and after Kosovo’s 1998-99 independence war with Serbia.
Because of the indictment, Thaci has postponed his trip to Washington, where he was to meet Saturday for talks at the White House with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
“The President of Kosovo has just informed us that he has canceled his trip to Washington, D.C. following the announcement made by the Special Prosecutors Office. I respect his decision not to attend the discussions until the legal issues of those allegations are settled,” tweeted Richard Grenell, the U.S. envoy for the Kosovo talks.
The talks will still go ahead, with Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, he added. “Crimes in Kosovo were committed by Serbs, not Albanians,” he said, calling it an attempt to rewrite history.
Several top Serbian officials and military officers have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms by a different war crimes court in The Hague for crimes committed by Serbian troops during the war.
“The court is trying to stain our liberating war, our aspiration for freedom and independence and legalize the (Serb) crimes in Kosovo,”said Bardhyl Mahmuti, a former KLA political representative, to the public television station, RTK.
The indictment was the first made by the prosecutor of the special tribunal for Kosovo based in The Hague. The court has been operating since 2015 and has questioned hundreds of witnesses. Kosovo’s prime minister resigned last year before he was questioned.
The prosecutor filed the indictment following a lengthy investigation and it reflects his “determination that it can prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” the statement said.
The prosecutor also accused Thaci and Veseli of repeated efforts “to obstruct and undermine the work” of the tribunal.
“Thaci and Veseli are believed to have carried out a secret campaign to overturn the law creating the Court and otherwise obstruct the work of the Court in an attempt to ensure that they do not face justice,” the statement said.
“By taking these actions, Mr. Thaci and Mr. Veseli have put their personal interests ahead of the victims of their crimes, the rule of law, and all people of Kosovo,” it added.
Kosovo politicians resisted and resented the scrutiny of the war crimes court, repeatedly noting that Serb troops committed massacres and other atrocities during the war that went unpunished.
Tensions between the two countries remain high. European Union-facilitated negotiations to normalize their relations started in March 2011 and has produced some 30 agreements, most of which were not observed.
The Washington meeting was set to be the first talks between the two sides in 19 months.
A statement from the prosecutor of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers said Thaci and the nine others “are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” involving hundreds of Serb and Roma victims, as well as Kosovo Albanian political opponents.
Other charges include enforced disappearance, persecution and torture, he said.
A pretrial judge at The Hague-based court is currently studying the indictment and could still reject it if there is not enough evidence to back it up. If there is enough evidence to support the charges, the pretrial judge will confirm them.
Thaci was a commander of the so-called Kosovo Liberation army, or KLA, that fought for independence from Serbia. The war left more than 10,000 dead — most of them ethnic Albanians — and 1,641 are still unaccounted for. It ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian troops.
The former ethnic Albanian-dominated province declared independence from Serbia in 2008, which Serbia did not recognize.
The indicted group includes Kadri Veseli, former parliament speaker and leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo.
Veseli said the indictment is politically motivated.
“Taking into account the time and circumstances (of the indictment), only days before the White House meeting, one would fairly doubt that it was accidental,” Veseli said.
