UNMIK ON AIR

INTERPOL AND THE WARRANT ISSUES

By Zoran CULAFIC

SLUG:

The recent detention and later release of Agim Ceku, Commander General of the Kosovo Protection Corps or KPC, in Budapest raised some questions in Pristina and Belgrade about the procedure and the legality of a number of Interpol warrants filed in Serbia during the past few years.

General Ceku was detained while traveling through the Budapest airport under an arrest warrant issued by the Belgrade Interpol Bureau. Days after the arrest, Hungarian authorities released him after the intervention from the SRSG of UNMIK, Hari Holkeri.

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on Air.

One of the issues widely questioned in the media and political circles in the Balkans was the integrity of Interpol arrest warrants issued in Serbia when three cases of detention were recently suspended after intervention from the highest level in UNMIK.

One arrest took place last year when the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Hasim Thaci, was briefly detained in the Budapest airport. The next incidents occurred when General Agim Ceku of the Kosovo Protection Corps or KPC was detained twice, first at Ljubljana airport last year and recently at the airport in Budapest.

The Interpol warrants filed against Ceku, Thaci and countless other citizens of Kosovo during Milosevic’s administration have been challenged by Kosovo-Albanians, UNMIK and some legal observers as being invalid. Critics of these warrants say the evidence gathered to file the Interpol warrants is not reliable. They also argue that Interpol is being used for political ends by the outdated warrants of the former Milosevic regime.

Fadil Lepaja, is the Director of Pristina-based Institute for Balkan studies:

Fadil Lepaja: I think that these cases are exclusively under UNMIK competency. That issue could be solved in two ways - first, if authorities in Belgrade declare themselves as democratic ones they should suspend these warrant issues, but if they do not want to do that, if they are sticking together with these acts that Milosevic has done, then the international community should do it by itself, either through UNMIK in Kosovo or through the UN. In any case, such warrants are not acceptable and it creates new conflicts and tensions here in Kosovo and in region too.

Belgrade Interpol Bureau representatives told UNMIK on Air they cannot comment for this story because they are awaiting approval from the new Serbian Ministry of Interior to authorize contact with the media.

A veteran journalist in Serbia, Stojan Cerovic says it is widely recognized that a number of Interpol arrest warrants filed in recent years from Belgrade were politically motivated. Even so, once an Interpol alert is sent out- all Interpol member states are obliged to follow international rules and detain persons named in an arrest warrant. Cerovic acknowledges that in practice, arrests take place on a case by case basis, often suspending the jurisdiction of Interpol.

Stojan Cerovic: In the cases of Ceku, and of Thaci earlier, it was obvious that there exists a political factor in it. Some national polices are not following the rules, or if they do, then their action could be suspended. In the Ceku case, we witnessed that after intervention of a high international institution, Hungarian police abandoned the procedure and released Ceku, as they did earlier in Thaci case too.

Cerovic adds that the Ceku arrest incident is highly controversial and a sensitive issue, keeping in mind that all Interpol member states are obliged to follow specific rules. Even as Cerovic questions the legality of arrest warrants issued against Kosovo citizens, Cerovic says citizens of Kosovo have a special status and are protected because they are currently under UNMIK’s administration.

Stojan Cerovic: It could be interesting for us the fact that our state obviously does not have such a political authority, therefore the warrant issues, particularly the old ones, would not be processed. It seems to me simply that Kosovo Albanian issue is considered something special and these cases are considered to be more political rather then criminal ones.

Many observers agree that these contradictory issues must be solved in general, if international laws and political integrity are to be preserved. Natasa Odalovic is a Belgrade-based senior Radio Free Europe reporter and she insists on firm and unbiased principles in respecting international laws.

Natasa Odalovic: My stance is that determined and defined rules must be established, and UNMIK itself should take its position and say clearly – is that principle membership in Interpol must be respected, i.e. in following the rules completely, or not. So after that it would be clear what rules are valid for Kosovo.

In Pristina the stance taken by Kosovo provisional institutions and UNMIK is that arrest warrants issued by Belgrade during the Milosevic era against prominent Kosovo Albanian political leaders and officers of the former Kosovo Liberation Army could damage the process of the Dialogue and hinder the implementation of the Standards.

UNMIK spokesperson in Pristina, Izabella Karlowicz, said that it is an exceptional situation where UNMIK is questioning the legal jurisdiction of the Serbian court considered legitimate by the Serbian government in issuing arrest warrants:

Izabella Karlowicz: So our contention is that under 1244 only the Kosovo courts administered by the UNMIK have territorial jurisdiction in Kosovo. So therefore if Serbian authorities have in their possession any evidentially material or court document to back their allegations against certain residents in Kosovo they should forward those to UNMIK for the consideration by the appropriate judicial authorities. Until now I can say that UNMIK has not received from Serbian authorities information on which it bases judicial proceedings against General Ceku or, as a matter of fact any Kosovo resident who had gone through similar arrest abroad

SRSG Harri Holkeri expressed concern over the brief detention of the Kosovo Protection Corps Commander General Agim Ceku at Budapest airport on 29 February 2004 allegedly on the basis of a Serbian arrest warrant, which UNMIK qualified as invalid.

UNMIK’s position on the matter has been repeatedly clarified to Serbian and other authorities concerned, said UNMIK’s spokesperson. The same was reasserted in the latest Secretary General’s report to the Security Council, which stated that the arrest warrant for the head of the KPC issued by the parallel district court of Pristina operating from Nis is invalid- saying the court lacks jurisdiction in this matter.

What is most needed now, according to Jelena Milic a political analyst with the Belgrade-based Forum for International Relations, is to create a wide public and political consensus on certain issues like these at the highest possible political level, not only in the region but also in world political centers.

Jelena Milic: It is obvious that international law and international treaties, statutes of international organizations, in this moment very often are on the tail of the political reality, and it must be clearly defined sooner or later.

Actions which lead to controversy, because they are not defined precisely by international laws, trouble some observers like Natasa Odalovic:

Natasa Odalovic: The rules should be equally valid for all, or at least the principles should be established, that tells to respect or not to respect certain rules. Without that, in the cases like the recent one it is an ultimate obligation to act that results from a membership of certain state in Interpol.

UNMIK already stated that measures have been taken to solve, in principle, cases of Belgrade warrants issued against Kosovo citizens.

Again, UNMIK spokesperson Izabella Karlowicz:

Izabella Karlowicz: At the same time and well before the latest incident involving Mr. Ceku we have also taken up the matter with Interpol . The Department of Justice has been in correspondence with Interpol legal council office in Lion, in the past months, the Office of the legal adviser has been in touch with European Council to use their good offices to have resolve the matter, and also UNMIK's Interpol liaison office which is based in Pristina has also been in contacts with Interpol HQ in Lion.

UNMIK has been engaged in dialogue with Interpol to resolve the issue of outstanding Serbian arrest warrants relating to residents of Kosovo. UNMIK has had exchanges with the European Commission in Brussels on the matter and also plans to intervene with countries currently offering direct flights to Kosovo to avoid the occurrence of such incidents in the future.

That’s all for this edition of UNMIK on Air. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.