Sunday, December 2, 2012

Moscow assesses ex-KLA’s trial as “scandalous”


MOSCOW -- The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the Hague Tribunal’s decision to acquit ex-commander of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) Ramush Haradinaj.
A view of Moscow (Beta, file)
A view of Moscow (Beta, file)
The Russian ministry assessed that the trial was “scandalous”.
Moscow has announced that it will request that the Hague Tribunal be closed in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution.

“The proceeding against Haradinaj was conducted in scandalous circumstances,” released the Russian Foreign Ministry, adding that “for the first time in the history of the international judiciary witnesses were intimidated and often physically eliminated”.

“All this was done in the atmosphere of complete lawlessness and connivance of the international representatives in Kosovo,” it is added in the release.

“The Russian Federation has several times pointed to the unacceptable situation regarding this and other proceedings in the Hague Tribunal to the UN Security Council and demanded a decisive action in order to express responsibility for the death of those people and ensure a more efficient witness protection in Kosovo,” the Russian Foreign Ministry added.

“Unfortunately, the appeals were blocked with the excuse that they were not useful and that they represented an interference with the alleged objective work of the Hague Tribunal,” the ministry stressed.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the acquittal of Haradinaj and Croat Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač was “another proof of double standards of the court, since persons accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes are not punished”.

The Russian ministry expressed deep dissatisfaction with the work of the Hague Tribunal, noting that “the determined deadline for the work of the (UN Security Council) organ is about to expire and Russia is determined in its intention to end the Tribunal’s further activities within the deadline determined by the Resolution 1966 which was adopted in the UN Security Council in 2010”.

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