FORMER KOSOVO prime minister Ramush Haradinaj faces a retrial for war crimes after the Yugoslav tribunal partially overturned his acquittal, a move that precedes a ruling in a separate court today on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia.
The non-binding ruling on the 2008 declaration of independence will be made by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which is the main judicial organ of the UN.
This ruling comes on foot of a request from the UN General Assembly to examine whether the declaration was in line with international law.
A former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Mr Haradinaj was acquitted two years ago of torture, murder, rape and deportation after trial judges in the tribunal found prosecutors did not prove a deliberate campaign to kill and expel Serb civilians from Kosovo.
In a majority verdict yesterday, appeals judges said the original ruling erred by not giving prosecutors enough time to exhaust all reasonable steps to secure the testimony of two crucial witnesses.
Their ruling cited “serious witness intimidation” during the trial.
“It was clear that the trial chamber seriously erred in failing to take adequate measures to secure the testimony of certain witnesses,” it said. “Given the potential importance of these witnesses to the prosecution’s case, the error undermined the fairness of the proceedings and resulted in a miscarriage of justice.”
Mr Haradinaj (42), a former nightclub bouncer, and two co-accused will be retried on six counts of involvement in a “joint criminal enterprise”, whose purpose was to consolidate total KLA control of the Dukagjin area through the unlawful removal and mistreatment of civilians.
Mr Haradinaj was present in court in The Hague yesterday, having been transferred there from Pristina following an arrest warrant executed by the EU mission in Kosovo.
He had been in office only for months when he resigned in 2005 after being indicted by the UN tribunal.
His co-accused are his uncle Lahi Brahimaj, a former deputy commander of the KLA and Idriz Balaj, a former commander of a special KLA unit.
The partial retrial will be the first since the court was set up in 1993 to try individuals for genocide and war crimes.