Ex-Kosovo leader faces UN trial

THE HAGUE -- Kosovo's former prime minister has "blood on his hands," the UN chief prosecutor said yesterday at the start of a war crimes trial on charges stemming from the war against Serb forces in 1998-99.

Ramush Haradinaj, a Kosovo Albanian and former regional commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), resigned in 2005 after being indicted by a UN tribunal on murder, rape, and torture charges stemming from acts allegedly committed by forces he commanded.

Standing trial with him are Idriz Balaj, the commander of the "Black Eagles," a special unit of the KLA, and Lahi Brahimaj, Haradinaj's uncle and a close associate.

"These three men come before you accused of crimes -- ugly, cruel, and violent crimes," Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte told the court in her opening statement.

"Be in no doubt that this warlord, his lieutenant and his jailer have blood on their hands," she added.

Kosovo, whose population is 90 percent Albanian, was the site of NATO's first "humanitarian" war, which sought in 1999 to remove Serb forces who killed 10,000 Albanians and drove out almost 1 million in a two-year conflict with the KLA. An insurrection in Kosovo, a province of Serbia, had prompted the brutal suppression of Albanians by Serb forces and paramilitaries.

The province of 2 million has been run by the United Nations since then, and individuals on both sides of the conflict have been indicted by the UN tribunal.

Last Thursday Haradinaj pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. Balaj and Brahimaj also pleaded not guilty.

The three men, dressed in dark suits, looked relaxed and chatted together before the trial began.

"Mr. Haradinaj fought an honorable war. Its targets were combatants, not civilians. Faced with the overwhelming firepower of the combined Serbian forces, he sought to organize the defense of the Albanian population," Haradinaj's defense lawyer told the court, adding the charges were completely unfounded.

"The targeting of Serb civilians, or any civilians, was never one of Mr. Haradinaj's military objectives."

Haradinaj, 38, is accused of leading a campaign to drive Serbs and Roma from their villages and of attacks on ethnic Albanian and Roma civilians the KLA saw as collaborators.

KLA forces, including the "Black Eagles" trained by Haradinaj and Balaj, killed those civilians left behind or those who refused to abandon their homes, according to the indictment.

In one case, Balaj and his forces are accused of abducting three Roma men because of their perceived collaboration with Serb forces. One man's nose was cut off and Balaj then cut each of the three men on their necks, arms, and thighs, rubbed salt into the wounds and sewed them up, according to the indictment.

The three men were then reportedly wrapped in barbed wire and later killed, their bodies dumped in a lake.

Considered a hero by many Kosovo Albanians, Haradinaj is the most senior former KLA guerrilla to be indicted over the war and the first serving head of government to be indicted since former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The initial charges against Milosevic stemmed from his role in the suppression of Kosovo Albanians.