War crimes court acquits Kosovo ex-leader

Hague action seen enraging Serbs

Hailing yesterday's verdict in The Hague, Kosovo Albanian boys in Pristina held up photos of former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, who led anti-Serbian forces in the late 1990s. (Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images)

PARIS - The UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia acquitted Ramush Haradinaj, the former prime minister of Kosovo, yesterday of all charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, in a surprise decision that could inflame anti-Kosovar sentiment in Serbia just weeks after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence.

Haradinaj, a former guerrilla fighter who led the Kosovo Liberation Army in fighting against Serbian security forces in the late 1990s, was viewed as one of the most charismatic leaders to emerge from the Balkan wars and was a hero to many Kosovars.

But he was vilified as a terrorist by Serbia, which still considers Kosovo a rebellious province, and his case drew charges of favoritism from prosecutors. Haradinaj was a crucial partner in Western efforts to bring peace to Kosovo, and prosecutors in Kosovo and The Hague say the UN and Western governments bent over backward to prevent his prosecution.

The prosecution's chief witness, Tahir Zemaj, and his son and nephew were shot dead during the investigation. Another witness, Kjutim Berisha, died two weeks before the trial when he was hit by a car in Podgorica, the Montenegren capital.

Hardinaj was acquitted after judges found that prosecutors had failed to prove there was a deliberate campaign to kill Serb civilians in Kosovo or expel them.

Haradinaj and two other men began to stand trial at the tribunal in The Hague in March 2007, charged with killing 40 people in 1998. The charges also included torture and rape allegations.

The tribunal also acquitted one of the other men, Idriz Balaj. The third accused man, Lahi Brahimaj, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment "for cruel treatment and torture of two persons" at the headquarters of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the court said.

Evidence presented by the prosecution "did not always allow the Chamber to conclude whether a crime was committed or whether the KLA was involved as alleged," the tribunal said.

Haradinaj's supporters said that there was never any evidence linking him directly to the crimes and suggested that the court charged him simply to appear evenhanded.