Former Kosovan prime minister Ramush Haradinaj today pleaded not guilty today to charges of murder, rape and deportation of civilians while a guerrilla leader in a 1998-99 war against Serb forces.
Mr Haradinaj, a former regional commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), resigned as prime minister last week to face charges at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Holland.
He pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war, including murder, rape, deportation and cruel treatment of Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanians in 1998.
Mr Haradinaj (36) is accused by UN prosecutors of waging a campaign to drive Serbs and Roma from their villages and for attacks on ethnic Albanian and Roma civilians - believed by the KLA to be collaborators - from early March to late September 1998.
Considered a hero by many Kosovo Albanians, he is the most senior former KLA guerrilla to be indicted over the war against Serb forces and the first serving head of government to be indicted since former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
Two of his former KLA aides pleaded not guilty to the 35 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war against them at the same hearing. The charges against Mr Idriz Balaj and Mr Lahi Brahimaj include murder and rape.