Kosovo: Serbia demands probe of former UN mission chief

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=1.0.2059141586

ADN Kronos International (Italy)
April 10, 2008

Kosovo: Serbia demands probe of former UN mission chief

Belgrade - Serbia decided on Thursday to ask United
Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon to probe the
former chief of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Soren
Jessen Petersen for allegedly obstructing the
investigation of crimes against Serb civilians.

The Serbian National Council for Cooperation with UN’s
Hague-based Yugoslav war crimes tribunal authorised
its president Rasim Ljajic to demand an investigation
of Petersen’s role in protecting former Kosovo prime
minister Ramush Haradinaj, who was charged with crimes
against Serb civilians, but was acquitted by the
tribunal last week.

The acquittal triggered a storm of protests in
Belgrade and the Council said in a statement it was a
“serious blow to international justice” and another
“humiliation of the victims”.

The Council said “Petersen and other persons had
obstructed investigations against Haradinaj and
therefore conscientiously and intentionally hampered
justice”.

The Former chief prosecutor at the Hague tribunal,
Carla del Ponte, said in her book ’The Hunt,’ recently
published in Italy, that Petersen and other UN
officials were uncooperative in investigating the
charges against Haradinaj.

Haradinaj, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA), which began a rebellion against Belgrade’s
rule in 1998, resigned as prime minister in 2005 after
he was indicted by the tribunal. But he was later set
free pending trial and the court acquitted him for
lack of evidence.

Del Ponte has often complained about intimidation of
witnesses against Haradinaj and the Council pointed
out that nine witnesses had been killed or died under
suspicious circumstances before the trial.

While at liberty, Haradinaj was allowed to carry on
political activities and was often called “a dear
friend” by Petersen and other UN and Kosovo officials.

As a result, “some witnesses out of fear ignored the
subpoenas and risked punishment rather than testify,”
the Council said.

Ljajic was also authorised to demand the Hague
tribunal investigate the reports, back up by Del
Ponte’s book, that KLA soldiers had removed kidneys
and other organs from abducted Serb civilians and sold
them in the West.

The Council said that if Hague prosecutors were unable
to carry out such an investigation, they should hand
any evidence they have gathered so far to the Serbian
authorities, which are conducting their own probe.