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Haradinaj Leave Request Refused
Former Kosovan premier will not be granted provisional release for birth of chil
d.
By Rachel Irwin - International Justice - ICTY
TRI Issue 674,
17 Dec 10
Appeals judges this week rejected ex-Kosovo president Ramush Haradinaj’s request t
o be with his wife during the time she is expected to give birth to their third
child.
Following an appeal by the prosecution, the appeals chamber overturned an earlie
r decision by trial judges and said their ruling was “so unreasonable as to consti
tute an abuse of its discretion”.
“The trial chamber considered that the provisional release of Haradinaj would add
to the threatening atmosphere for witnesses and might encourage his supporters t
o engage in acts of intimidation,” wrote appeals judges in their December 16 decis
ion.
Trial judges had earlier concluded that “the potential effect” of his provisional re
lease “on the integrity of the proceedings would not be substantial”.
In their original decision, trial judges had considered the relatively short fou
r-week duration of the provisional release, uncertainty about the start date of
his partial retrial and the fact that Haradinaj has been in detention since his
partial retrial was ordered last July.
However, appeals judges said these reasons do not “obviate…concerns regarding the po
tential for witness intimidation or the inherent risk to the integrity of the pr
oceedings”.
Haradinaj, former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, was initially ac
quitted in 2008 of all 37 counts against him. One of his co-accused, Idriz Balaj
, was also acquitted at that time, while a third co-accused, Lahi Brahimaj, was
found guilty of cruel treatment and torture and sentenced to six years in prison
.
However, prosecutors appealed against the acquittals, claiming that the trial ha
d been “infected” by witness intimidation. As a result, they said they were unable t
o secure the testimony of two key witnesses.
Appeals judges subsequently ruled that all three accused should face a partial r
etrial on six counts of murder, cruel treatment and torture allegedly committed
against Serb civilians and perceived collaborators during the late 1990s conflic
t in Kosovo.
The appeals chamber said that the trial judges “failed to appreciate the gravity o
f the threat of witness intimidation posed to the trial’s integrity” and placed too
much emphasis “on ensuring that the prosecution took no more than its pre-allotted
time to present its case…irrespective of the possibility of securing potentially
important testimony”.
Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.