Byzantine Blog

Amnesty International: Crimes in Kosovo Province Go Unpunished

Seven years since the UN started to make efforts for building the judiciary system in Serbia's Kosovo province, hundreds of war crimes, crimes against humanity (including rape and disappearance of people) and other crimes based on ethnicity still remain unpunished, warned on Tuesday Amnesty International.

In the latest report of the Washington-based NGO on the judiciary system in Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija, it is pointed out that war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes based on ethnicity from conflicts in the late 90s must not remain unpunished.

Amnesty International called on international and temporary Kosovo authorities to complete and publish the results of the review of the work of the international and local judiciary in bringing to justice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes based on ethnicity.

Hundreds of cases have been closed for lack of evidence, which was not quickly or efficiently collected. The relatives of the disappeared claim that international police and prosecutors, who were newly appointed to the case, questioned them too frequently, but that no headway was ever made, said AI investigator in Kosovo Sayan Jones.

Amnesty International reminds that after the KLA armed insurgency and the ensuing conflict, after which NATO and UN took over the security and administration in the Serbian province in 1999, “the criminal and civic judiciary system collapsed.”

It became clear that the ICTY tribunal NATO established in the Hague will be able to try only a limited number of cases and that is why the UN have established a programme of including international judges and prosecutors into the local system of criminal law - so-called Programme of international judges and prosecutors.

Unfortunately, for over seven years the mentioned Programme has not fulfilled expectations, Jones said, and assessed that the locals filling the positions of prosecutors and judges were still unprepared for criminal cases that involve international law.

Looting, Arson, Forced Expropriation, Killings and Abduction of Serbs and Other Non-Albanias, a Daily Phenomena Since NATO Occupied Serbian Province

Amnesty International detailed, full report [.pdf format], on 121 pages, stresses that, following NATO aggression and occupation of the southern Serbian province, Albanians that have entered Kosovo alongside NATO troops “resorted to violence and intimidation [...] Looting, arson, forced expropriation of apartments belonging to Serbs and other non-Albanian minorities, and in some cases, killing and abduction of non-Albanians became daily phenomena.”

“Moreover, organized crime, including smuggling, drug trafficking, and trafficking in women, soon flourished. It was apparent, within the first few days, that the previous law enforcement and judicial system in Kosovo had collapsed.”

Further into the report, it is revealed that the so-called war crime "trials" conducted in the occupied Serbian province are nothing but a sham:

"Instances of bias against Serbs and other minorities among the Albanian judiciary surfaced early during the Emergency Judicial System and have continued ever since... Albanians arrested on serious charges, often caught red-handed by KFOR or UNMIK police, frequently were released immediately or were not indicted and subsequently released. Meanwhile, Serbs, Roma and other minorities arrested on even minor charges with flimsy evidence were almost always detained, and some stayed in detention even though they were not indicted."

Even though the investigation that led to this report was carried out between early 2006 and April 2007, after the Amnesty International delegates have visited the Serbian province in November and December 2007, just a month ago, they have "found that the situation was even more serious" than presented in the AI's report.