U.N. war crimes tribunal acquits Kosovo rebel leader

The most senior Kosovo Albanian to be prosecuted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal was cleared Thursday of all counts involving the murder and torture of Serb civilians, a verdict that quickly inflamed passions across the Balkans.

The decision to acquit and free Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla commander and prime minister of Kosovo, was met with joy and cheers in the breakaway province, but fury in Serbia, where the credibility of the 15-year-old tribunal was immediately assailed.

Kosovo, with U.S. backing, declared independence six weeks ago, a move Serbia adamantly, and sometimes violently, opposes.

“This is a verdict that strengthens Kosovo,” Haradinaj said in a statement.

In Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, where Haradinaj is considered a national hero, cars filled the streets, many adorned with red Albanian flags and their horns blaring in celebration. He is expected to return today.

Haradinaj’s tearful wife, Anita, said: “Ramush is coming to an independent Kosovo that he made happen.”

But troubling questions were raised about the efficacy of the trial at the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Many witnesses were too afraid to testify, and several disappeared or died under mysterious circumstances, court officials said.

Haradinaj’s lawyers were so confident of victory that they did not present a defense.

The trial drew special attention because United Nations officials gave preferential treatment to Haradinaj, a favored U.S. ally. He was allowed to remain free and participate in Kosovo politics long after his indictment. Former lead prosecutor Carla Del Ponte accused U.N. officials administering Kosovo of deliberately obstructing the investigation into Haradinaj’s alleged crimes.

Haradinaj, 39, and two co-defendants were accused of mounting a “widespread and systematic campaign” to abuse, kill and expel Serbs and other minorities in 1998 during the Kosovo Albanians’ uprising against Serbian rule. The armed conflict between the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army and Serbian forces was ended the following year by a North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombing offensive that drove out the Serbian military.

Presiding Judge Alphons Orie said Thursday that there was evidence that KLA guerrillas committed many of the crimes listed in the indictment, but that the acts were “not on a scale or frequency” to establish a wider campaign against the civilian population.

The 37-count indictment also accused Haradinaj and his “Black Eagles” KLA unit of killing or intimidating ethnic Albanians who refused to cooperate. Many victims were elderly Serbian villagers whose bodies were found with broken bones.

One of Haradinaj’s lieutenants and co-defendants, Idriz Balaj, was also accused of slicing off the ears and noses of victims who were still alive and, in one case, wrapping three men in barbed wire, hammering the spikes into their flesh and dragging them with his car. Balaj too was acquitted of all charges. Co-defendant Lahi Brahimaj, Haradinaj’s uncle, was found guilty on two counts of torture and cruel treatment of a prisoner. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Before reading the verdicts Thursday, Orie expressed dismay that nearly 20% of the subpoenaed witnesses had refused to testify out of fear. As the judge read the not-guilty verdicts, Haradinaj’s supporters in the courtroom erupted in applause and cheers.

In Kosovo, the verdicts were broadcast live. People watched in coffee bars, offices and homes, leaping from their chairs and shouting jubilantly when Haradinaj’s acquittal was announced.

Some Kosovo Albanians said Haradinaj was only defending his people. “I lived through massacres that were done by Serbs, and I think it’s a shame for the U.N. prosecutor to put our freedom fighters in the same place with Serbian slaughterers,” said Ymer Avdiu, a former Education Ministry employee.

Haradinaj, a onetime carpenter and nightclub bouncer with a law degree, resigned as prime minister as soon as the indictment was issued in March 2005, but was allowed to remain in Kosovo until the trial started two years later. He reported to The Hague with a letter of recommendation from the top U.N. official in Kosovo.

United Nations and U.S. officials relied on Haradinaj to provide security and keep a large contingent of restless former guerrillas under control.

For Serbs, however, Haradinaj embodies the many abuses Serbs have suffered, and his acquittal convinced them that the international tribunal that has convicted so many Serb war criminals would never mete out equal justice for crimes against Serbs.

“With this decision, the Hague tribunal mocks justice, and it mocks innocent victims that suffered from Haradinaj’s hand,” Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said.

Serbian President Boris Tadic warned that an acquittal would make it impossible for Kosovo’s Serb minority to live safely under ethnic Albanian rule. Bozidar Djelic, the deputy prime minister, called the verdict “scandalous,” saying it was a “black day for international justice.”

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wilkinson@latimes.com

Special correspondents Behar Zogiani in Pristina and Zoran Cirjakovic in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.