Hague tribunal finds ex-Kosovo minister guilty of witness intimidation
The International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia sentenced a former Kosovo Albanian minister to five months in prison Wednesday for intimidating a witness in the case against former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, December 18, 2008
Former Culture Minister Astrit Haraqija and his aide, Bajrush Morina, were convicted of contempt of court for threatening a man identified only as Witness Two. Morina was sentenced to three months in prison.
Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj was acquitted in April of murder, rape and torture against Serbs, Roma and Albanians opposed to Kosovo's secession.
Prosecutors have appealed, arguing their case was derailed by widespread witness intimidation.
The five-month sentence given Haraqija was the harshest ever handed down by the U.N. tribunal for a contempt of court conviction.
The maximum sentence for contempt is seven years and a euro 100,000 fine.
Presiding judge Alfons Orie said that Haraqija sent Morina to threaten the witness in September 2007 in an unsuccessful effort to stop him from testifying against the prime minister.
Morina told the witness that others who had testified against Haraqija were later killed, Orie said, adding that Haraqija had abused his government position to pressure his deputy into an illegal act.
Prosecutors called 81 witnesses during Haradinaj's trial, but other witnesses refused to appear, and two have been indicted for contempt of court. The court guaranteed anonymity to 34 witnesses, but still had to subpoena 18 of them.
As they acquitted Haradinaj, trial judges wrote they believed "the trial was being held in an atmosphere where witnesses felt unsafe."
