Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who is visiting Pristina on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Kosovo's Independence, described as "gloomy news" the prosecution's request at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague to sentence four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to 45 years in prison.
Rama made the comments during the promotion of the book "When Silence Speaks" by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Shala, academic and former ambassador to Kosovo.
"The grim news from the tribunal in The Hague regarding the absurd request of prosecutors to sentence four KLA leaders to 45 years each. I found it difficult to write a word, because in the face of such a situation, words are not at all easy to find," said Rama.
He made comparisons with those convicted of war crimes by international justice, mentioning figures such as Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, Stanislav Galic, Milan Lukic, sentenced to life imprisonment for serious crimes, including the genocide in Srebrenica.
"Today, those convicted by that court are Radovan Karadzic, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for an entire era of terror and purges, Ratko Mladic, also sentenced to life imprisonment as the face of the extermination machine... Now, at the request of the prosecution of the tribunal in The Hague, four more will be added to these convicted, on the other side of the barricade," he said.
Rama emphasized that, according to him, the activity of the KLA leaders has no connection with terror against the civilian population or ethnic cleansing.
"There is no connection between their activity or that of the KLA with terror against the civilian population, ethnic cleansing, mass graves of innocent people or with rapes and murders. Those four men did not arm themselves to build a policy of extermination, but against a policy of extermination," Rama declared.
He added that, if the prosecution's request were considered fair, then responsibility would have to extend even further, citing Western leaders who supported NATO's intervention in Kosovo.
"If Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi must be buried alive for the war and for what happened during the war in Kosovo, then the arrests must continue, Bill Clinton, Javier Solana, Tony Blair and other prime ministers of the countries that gave the green light to NATO bombings must be arrested," Rama declared.
He added that the accused leaders themselves had voted in the Kosovo Assembly to create this court.
"In fact, they themselves voted with their own hands in the Kosovo parliament for a court that on paper is a court of Kosovo, it is not a court to put Kosovo in the dock," he said.
Rama also mentioned the report of former Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty, calling it the "infamous report" and claiming that the current process is a continuation of an earlier political plan.
"Today we are in a situation where a very long-term plan has taken almost final shape, the implementation of which began with Dick Marty's infamous report, which has never found peace where it is," he said.
The Albanian Prime Minister also raised questions about the role of international justice and its support by democratic states.
"International justice funded by democratic states, which to their shame continue to pursue this catastrophe for Europe and the democratic world, makes us today ask ourselves what we can and should do. I do not have the answer, but I am sure that we must do something more about this, because it is a catastrophe for international justice itself, Europe and the democratic West", declared Rama. /Telegraph/
