Former Kosovo prime minister to travel to The Hague for war crimes questioning
Ramush Haradinaj has already been tried and acquitted twice before for war crimes by a UN tribunal
July 23, 2019
Ramush Haradinaj, who resigned as Kosovo's prime minister after being summoned to The Hague as a war crime suspect, said he would leave on Tuesday for the Netherlands.
"Yes. I am travelling tomorrow," Mr Haradinaj told private television channel T7 late on Monday .
He announced on Friday that he was summoned to the war crimes tribunal "as a suspect" and expected to be questioned.
Today, when I am again invited to Hague for the third time, on this 9th anniversary of the ICJ ruling, #Kosovo is stronger than ever as an independent state: sovereign, democratic, unique, indivisible, and committed to its Euro-Atlantic path.
— Ramush Haradinaj (@haradinajramush) July 22, 2019
Mr Haradinaj immediately resigned as premier and asked President Hashim Thaci to call for early elections.
The EU-backed special war crimes court for Kosovo was established in 2015 to try war crimes allegedly committed by ethnic Albanian guerrillas against minority Serbs and Roma, and local Albanian political opponents during and immediately after the 1998-1999 independence war against Serbia.
Mr Haradinaj, who has already been tried and acquitted twice for war crimes by a UN tribunal, said he did not expect to be charged again.
"I do not think there will be an indictment as I had already two court proceedings" for war crimes, he said.
Mr Haradinaj led guerilla forces in western Kosovo, the scene of heavy fighting with Serbian armed forces loyal to then Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
The prosecutors' office in The Hague has so far summoned about 30 Kosovo guerillas for questioning.
Local media said Mr Haradinaj was likely to be questioned on Wednesday.
Updated: July 23, 2019 01:21 PM
