UN Tribunal releases Kosovo
Albanian suspect after mistaken identity claim.
28 February - The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
ordered the immediate release today of a Kosovo Albanian indicted
for war crimes in the murder and torture of Serb and Albanian
civilians following a defence claim of mistaken identity.
Judge Liu Daqun ordered the return to Kosovo
of Agim Murtezi, 46, who had been transferred to The Hague earlier
this month with three other Kosovo Albanians to face charges of
crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs
of war.
The indictment of Mr. Murtezi, who pleaded not
guilty to the charges last week, was withdrawn, following a prosecution
motion and the defence's response, both filed today. Three days
ago Mr. Murtezi's lawyer issued a statement on his behalf "claiming
that he is not the person referred to in the indictment."
The original indictment issued last month accused
Mr. Murtezi of enforcing inhumane conditions, including inadequate
food and medical care while a guard at Lapusnik/Llapushnik prison
camp in 1998, of participating in the murder of 11 prisoners and
participating in, aiding and abetting torture and beatings.
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UN Tribunal sentences
former Bosnian Serb President to 11 years
27 February - The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
today sentenced former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic
to 11 years in prison for crimes against humanity.
Mrs. Plavsic, 72, struck a plea agreement with
the court last year, admitting to planning, instigating, aiding
and abetting persecutions of the Muslim, Croat and other non-Serb
populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the country's civil
war from 1992 to 1995. She is the highest-ranking official from
the former Yugoslavia to plead guilty to war crimes.
Although Mrs. Plavsic did not conceive the policy
of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and had a lesser role it than some
other Bosnian Serb leaders, she had supported it, disregarded
reports of inhumane treatment, and publicly rationalized and justified
those crimes, Judge Richard May said in the Tribunal's sentencing
judgment. "No sentence can fully reflect the horror of what
occurred or the terrible impact on thousands of victims,"
he added.
While stressing that Mrs Plavsic participated
in "a crime of the utmost gravity," which resulted in
the brutally "destroyed countless lives and communities,"
and that "misplaced leniency would not be fitting,"
the court acknowledged that her guilty plea - together with remorse
and reconciliation, voluntary surrender, post-conflict conduct
and age - were substantial mitigating circumstances.
Her guilty plea and acknowledgement of responsibility
"should promote reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the region as a whole," Judge May said. He noted that
that theme was first sounded by Mrs. Plavsic herself in a statement
in support of her change of plea in which she referred to the
need for acknowledging the crimes committed during the war as
a necessary step towards peace and reconciliation, and voiced
the hope that her acceptance of responsibility would enable her
people to reconcile with their neighbours.
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Serb politician transferred
to UN War Crimes Tribunal Detention Centre
24 February - Serbian politician Vojislav Seselj was transferred
today to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague,
where he is awaiting his initial appearance before the court on
charges of crimes against humanity, and other crimes including
participation in war propaganda and incitement of hatred towards
non-Serb people.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
allege Mr. Seselj, as then president of the Serbian Radical Party
(SRS) made nationalistic speeches which incited racial hatred,
and also formed a paramilitary unit which committed atrocities
in Croatia, Bosnia and the Vojvodina region of Serbia from 1991
to 1993. In public speeches, he allegedly called for the expulsion
of Croat civilians from parts of the Vojvodina and thus instigated
his followers and the local authorities to engage in a persecution
campaign against the local Croat population.
The prosecutors also allege that Mr. Seselj
- indicted on 14 February on eight counts of crimes against humanity
and six violations of the laws or customs of war - participated
in war propaganda and incitement of hatred towards non-Serb people
and instigated his volunteer units and other Serb forces in Croatia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina to commit crimes.
According to the indictment, he also participated
in a "joint criminal enterprise," including the permanent
forcible removal of a majority of the Croat, Muslim and other
non-Serbian populations from nearly one-third of the territory
of Croatia, large parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for parts
of Vojvodina. He allegedly participated in the provision of financial,
logistical and political support necessary for such take-overs
with the help of ex-Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, already
held under indictment by the UN court on charges of atrocities
against the Albanian majority in Kosovo in 1999.
Kosovo Albanian on War
Crime Tribunal list arrested.
19 February - A Kosovo Albanian sought by the United Nations war
crimes tribunal in The Hague on charges of torturing and murdering
Serb and Albanian civilians has been arrested in Slovenia four
days after he left Kosovo on a regular airlines flight.
Fatmir Limaj, 32, one of four Albanians indicted
on charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws
or customs of war, was arrested yesterday in Kransjka Gora, Slovenia,
the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
( ICTY)
said today. The other three were transferred from Kosovo to The
Hague yesterday.
ICTY prosecutor Carla Del Ponte yesterday criticized
as “outrageous” the ease with which Mr. Limaj was
allowed to leave Kosovo on a regular flight even though international
security forces had been in possession of the sealed indictment
and arrest warrant for two-and-a-half weeks.
The other three suspects, Haradin Bala, 45,
Isak Musliu, 32, and Agim Murtezi, 46, are scheduled to make their
initial appearance before the Tribunal tomorrow.
Mr. Limaj, a commander in the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA) responsible for the operation of the Lapusnik/Llapushnik
prison camp, was charged with holding at least 35 Serb and Albanian
civilians “under conditions that were brutal and inhumane,
and routinely subjected them to physical and psychological abuse,
including torture and beatings.”
Mr. Bala, Mr. Musliu and Mr. Murtezi, all KLA
members and guards at the camp, enforced inhumane conditions,
including inadequate food and medical care, and participated in
or aided and abetted the torture and beatings of detainees, according
to the Tribunal.
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Three Kosovo Albanians
sent to UN War CRimes Tribunal but fourth eludes arrest.
18 February - Three Kosovo Albanians were transferred to the United
Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague today to face charges
of the torture and murder of Serb and Albanian civilians, but
a fourth eluded arrest in what the court's prosecutor called an
"outrageous" lapse by KFOR international security forces.
All four were charged by Carla Del Ponte, prosecutor
for the UN International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),
on 24 January in a sealed indictment
for their actions at a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) prison camp
in 1998, including shooting dead 11 prisoners in a clearing in
the woods.
In a statement from Podgorica, Montenegro, where
she is currently visiting, Ms. Del Ponte was critical of the ease
with which the fourth indictee, Fatmir Limaj, was allowed to slip
out of Kosovo on a regular flight, although KFOR had been in possession
of the indictment and arrest warrant for two and a half weeks.
"Unless he decides to surrender voluntarily,
Fatmir Limaj will be yet another name on our long list of indictees
at large," Ms. Del Ponte said. "As in the other cases,
I fully share the sense of immense disappointment, disillusionment
and frustration of the victims."
The three transferred to The Hague today were
Haradin Bala, Isak Musliu and Agim Murtezi. The charges against
the four include crimes against humanity and violations of the
laws or customs of war.
Mr. Limaj, 32, a KLA commander responsible for
the operation of the Lapusnik/Llapushnik prison camp, was charged
with holding at least 35 Serb and Albanian civilians "under
conditions that were brutal and inhumane, and routinely subjected
them to physical and psychological abuse, including torture and
beatings."
Mr. Bala, 45, Mr. Musliu, 32, and Mr. Murtezi,
46, all KLA members and guards at the camp, enforced inhumane
conditions, including inadequate food and medical care, and participated
in or aided and abetted the torture and beatings of detainees,
the Tribunal said.
The indictment charges that between 24 June
and 25 July 1998, KLA forces under Mr. Limaj's command and control
beat, tortured and murdered a number of Serb, non-Albanian and
Albanian detainees, and that Mr. Bala and Mr. Musliu participated
in or aided and abetted the murder of six detainees.
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Reaching UN targets essential
for determining Kosovo's future.
6 February - Backing the individual benchmarks and targets set
by the United Nations, the Security Council today welcomed the
progress made in the province in 2002 and voiced its support for
the UN's continued efforts in improving the economy and reducing
the level of crime.
In a wide-ranging statement
read out by its President at a formal meeting, the Council reiterated
its full support for the "Standards before Status" policy,
which sets targets in eight key areas: the functioning of the
democratic institutions, the rule of law, freedom of movement,
the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, the economy,
property rights, dialogue with Belgrade, and the Kosovo Protection
Corps.
"The fulfilment of these targets is essential
to commencing a political process designed to determine Kosovo's
future, in accordance with resolution 1244," said Ambassador
Gunter Pleuger of Germany, which holds the rotating Presidency
of the 15-nation body. "The Council strongly rejects unilateral
initiatives which may jeopardize stability and the normalization
process not only in Kosovo but also in the entire region."
The Council also reaffirmed its commitment to
"the objective of a multiethnic and democratic Kosovo and
calls upon all communities to work towards this goal and actively
participate in the public institutions as well as the decision-making
process, and integrate into society."
The statement condemned the violence within
the Kosovo Albanian community, as well as the violence against
the Kosovo Serb community, urging local institutions and leaders
to exert influence on the climate for the rule of law by condemning
all violence and actively supporting the efforts of the police
and the judiciary. "The Council stresses that all communities
must make renewed efforts to inject momentum into improving inter-ethnic
dialogue and promoting the reconciliation process, not least through
full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia," Ambassador Pleuger said.
The statement also called for the authority
of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to
be respected throughout the province, and welcomed the establishment
of its authority in the northern part of Mitrovica.
Crime, economy and multi-ethnic
society priorities for Kosovo in 2003, UN envoys says.
February 6 - The top United Nations envoy in Kosovo today told
the Security Council that the priorities for the UN's mission
this year will focus on the standards that are required for a
decent life, such as reducing the crime rate, improving the economy
and encouraging the formation of a multi-ethnic society.
Speaking at an open briefing
of the Council, Michael Steiner, head of the UN Interim Administration
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said that while many politicians in
the province were working hard to address the needs of the people,
he was concerned that others in Pristina were becoming more assertive
about status and status-related competencies, and not concentrating
enough on the real bread and butter issues.
Mr. Steiner also noted that Prime Minister Zoran
Djindjic had now changed course in Belgrade by also calling for
an early resolution of Kosovo's status and requested the return
of the Serbian State to Kosovo. "I don't believe that 2003
is the time for finally solving Kosovo's status," he told
the Council. "But it is the time to lay the groundwork for
the political process which in the end will determine status."
While there was general agreement on the goals,
Mr. Steiner noted, Kosovo's institutions had not yet engaged with
the benchmarks of accomplishment with sufficient vigour; some
Albanian politicians even claimed that Kosovo had already achieved
the standards. However, as the Security Council mission had stressed
in December, Kosovo was still a long way from having truly functioning
democratic institutions and a society where minorities could fully
participate.
"We obviously do not expect the institutions
to deliver in areas where they do not have instruments,"
the UNMIK chief said. "But public figures can and must be
held accountable for a sustained effort to promote the values
