KOSOVO SERB MINISTER SAYS HAGUE ACQUITTAL COST
ALBANIANS, LOBBYISTS 50M EUROS
BBC Monitoring International Reports - December 1, 2005
Excerpt from report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA
Belgrade, 30 November: The Serb minister [for return and communities] in the
Kosovo government, Slavisa Petkovic, said this evening that according to
information which he heard in Pristina, the Hague tribunal acquittal of Fatmir
Limaj cost the Kosovo Albanians and their lobbyists 50m euros.
"The decision of the Hague tribunal to acquit the two members of the Kosovo
Liberation Army [KLA, UCK in Albanian], Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu, is, to put
it mildly, a scandal. [Ethnic] Albanians have been threatening Kfor [NATO-led
Kosovo Force] and UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] members
for days and I cannot believe that this pressure has borne fruit," the Belgrade
media relay Petkovic as saying.
The adviser to the Serbian president for cooperation with the Hague tribunal,
Jovan Simic, assessed that today's decision by the court to acquit the two KLA
members, Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu, could cause a storm of protests, as
no-one, to date, has been held responsible for crimes committed against the
non-Albanian population.
He added that it was absolutely certain that there is sufficient evidence on the
disappearance of a large number of people, that people were murdered and on the
destruction of the cultural heritage.
"In a situation where no one person or organization is being held responsible,
the question arises whether we perhaps did this to ourselves," Simic said.
According to him, the fundamental question is, how is it possible that "not one
Serb has been acquitted, and how is it possible that no-one in Kosovo is guilty
of something for which innumerable pieces of evidence exist".
The political representatives of the Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija] Serbs were
surprised by the Hague tribunal's acquittal of Limaj and Musliu.
A member of the [Serbian] negotiation team [for Kosovo status], Goran
Bogdanovic, said that the decision has set a precedent, when one bears in mind
the fact that Limaj was a commander of a camp where Serbs and other
non-Albanians suffered and died and, according to his assessment, that fact
alone points to his responsibility.
He said that the decision of the court, which was expected to dispense justice,
has had a discouraging effect on the Serb people in Kosovo-Metohija.
"I am surprised by the court's decision, even though I view the Hague tribunal
as a political institution," the head of the Serb List for Kosovo-Metohija,
Oliver Ivanovic, said.
[Passage omitted]
Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in
Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1940 gmt 30 Nov 05
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