Kosovo's war criminals should be brought to justice

There has been exceptionally strong resistance in Kosovo to taking action against those responsible for crimes during the war there, he told the press."I think that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) contributed to that somewhat, since it turned into political court to an extent by allowing some war criminals to avoid punishment," he noted, stressing that Ramus Haradinaj, a former commander in the KLA, had definitely been one of those.The ICTY acquitted Haradinaj citing lack of evidence, Popov stated, adding that Haradinaj had been released pending his trial and even allowed to be prime minister for a while after being indicted.That gave Haradinaj enough time to destroy the evidence, and a number of witnesses who should have been included in the case against him disappeared, Popov said, pointing out that it was one of the key arguments for the necessity of establishing a special tribunal.The evidence prepared for the case concerning the so called yellow house in Albania, involving organ harvesting from living people, is also a strong argument, and it is very important to settle that once and for all, particularly through such a tribunal, he underscored."I hope the court will do what it is supposed to and those responsible for war crimes to justice," Popov concluded.Many influential figures in Kosovo should be tried.The decision to establish a special tribunal for war crimes committed by members of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) is very significant because a huge number of influential people should be tried, Belgrade Institute of Social Sciences adviser Dusan Janjic said on Wednesday.The decision to form a special office within Kosovo's special court for war crimes and crimes committed after the war is extremely important, he told Tanjug, stressing that it was a to-be-or-not-to-be matter for Kosovo.There are around 200 cases of war crimes where the suspects are former soldiers and officers of the KLA, politicians and people involved in organized crime, he said.Kosovo cannot move forward without it, nor can the rule of law be established, and the case involving organ trafficking will test this, he remarked.That case set the nature of the tribunal, since those involved come from Italy, Turkey, Albania and Kosovo, so the court had to be separated from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, he pointed out."It is the first test, but not the decisive one. It will be a lot harder to try cases that directly involve top officials of political parties that are part of the government in Kosovo now," Janjic stated, adding that the international community and the US in particular demanded that the tribunal be established.Out of the 200 cases planned for trials, only 10 refer to Serbs, while all the others refer to Albanians, meaning that a huge number of influential people should be put on trial, said Janjic.The tribunal is test of credibility for the international community, which must not allow itself to fail on that issue, he believes.