International Justice/ICTY: Apr ‘08

IWPR provided in-depth coverage of a series of big war crimes justice developments in the region this month.



On April 3, ICTY judges acquitted two former KLA commanders - Kosovo’s ex-prime minister Ramush Haradinaj and his co-accused Idriz Balaj - of all charges. They had been indicted for war crimes in Kosovo in 1998.



The third accused, Lahi Brahimaj, was found guilty of cruel treatment and torture and sentenced to six years in prison.



The verdict sparked an outcry in the region, especially in Serbia, which was reflected in our April 4 article Serbian Anger at Haradinaj Acquittal. The focus of the story was allegations that the KLA leaders were set free because witnesses were too afraid to testify against them.



On the day of the judgement, various local and international media – from leading Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita to Canadian radio CBC – approached IWPR for comment on the controversy surrounding the verdict and its consequences on the already tense relationship between Serbia and Kosovo, following the province’s recent unilateral declaration of independence.



In a follow-up report a week after the Haradinaj judgement, we published an article about possible effects of the verdict on Belgrade’s cooperation with the tribunal and the overall political situation in Serbia. In the article, Has Haradinaj Acquittal Boosted Serbian Radicals, on April 11, we looked into claims that the acquittal of Kosovo’s former prime minister of war crimes charges could strengthen support for radical parties at Serbia’s parliamentary elections the following month.



Another subject that drew a lot of attention in the region was a book published by current Swiss ambassador to Argentina, Carla Del Ponte, on her years spent at the Hague tribunal as chief prosecutor. Del Ponte held this post for eight years and left the court in January this year, after her mandate expired.



One of the subjects she wrote about in her book created a storm in the Balkans – allegations of organ-trafficking in Kosovo in June 1999. In an in-depth article on April 30, Is New Probe Into Organ Trafficking Claims Justified, we investigated the story, but found very little to support claims that people were murdered for their organs during the Kosovo conflict.



We also published a special report this month, Politicians Stymie Belgrade War Crimes Trials, focusing on the progress Serbian judiciary has made in prosecuting war crimes over the last few years.



In their report, IWPR journalists Caroline Tosh and Aleksandar Roknic concluded that the failure of Serbian politicians to back war crimes prosecutions is severely hampering work at the Belgrade war crimes court. They found out that prosecutors lack adequate funding and are subject to frequent intimidation, while investigators are prevented from pursuing high-level suspects.



However, observers in Serbia pointed out that despite the difficulties they encounter, local war crimes courts – along with the Hague tribunal – have the potential to persuade Serbs to begin accepting responsibility for their part in the wars and could help challenge public perceptions of what went on in the former Yugoslavia in the Nineties.