SERBIAN TV CONDEMNS EX-KOSOVO PM'S PARTY ADDRESS MADE FROM HAGUE TRIBUNAL

SERBIAN TV CONDEMNS EX-KOSOVO PM'S PARTY ADDRESS MADE FROM HAGUE TRIBUNAL
BBC Monitoring International Reports - May 2, 2005

Text of report by Belgrade-based private BKTV on 2 May

[Presenter] The former prime minister of Kosovo and Hague [tribunal] indictee, Ramush Haradinaj, has addressed himself to a gathering of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo [AAK, Haradinaj's party] held in Pristina. Speaking live via telephone, Haradinaj addressed those gathered and told them to continue fighting for an independent Kosovo. So far, Hague indictees have been strictly forbidden to deal with any kind of political agitation and similar attempts have been regularly punished.

[Reporter] Speaking to members of his party, Haradinaj said that they should continue cooperation with international institutions, and improve the process which would lead to the creation of a state of Kosovo. [UN] Civil administrator Soeren Jessen-Petersen, representatives of diplomatic missions and Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi, who attended the gathering, also listened to Haradinaj's words. However, it remains unknown whether Haradinaj received permission from the tribunal for this speech.

Those who are familiar with the situation in the International Tribunal for War Crimes [in former Yugoslavia] have recalled that the tribunal has so far rigorously punished all attempts by some indictees to deal with politics from Scheveningen [Hague detention unit] or give interviews.

A former amicus curiae [of the Hague tribunal], lawyer Branislav Tapuskovic, explained for BKTV that this was a unique precedent.

[Tapuskovic] So far we have absolutely not had a case of someone having any propaganda-like communication with the former Yugoslav territory on a direct line between The Hague and, say, Pristina, Belgrade or Zagreb. This is strictly forbidden and absolutely impermissible, and the question should certainly be posed in appropriate places at the tribunal about how it was possible for something like this to happen in the first place.

So far, similar cases have not been registered at all. I remember once that someone from The Hague - I do not know exactly who - managed to establish contact with the domestic public and a huge problem was created out of it. This is something which certainly should not have happened.

[Reporter] Hague indictees [former Serbian and Yugoslav president] Slobodan Milosevic, [Serbian Radical Party leader] Vojislav Seselj and certain others were even forbidden to communicate with their families after they were caught attempting to influence political events from The Hague. Branislav Tapuskovic recalled that indictees released on bail pending trial were even forbidden to make political or any other statements for the media.

How did Ramush Haradinaj acquire the right to have such privileges? Does he enjoy special status? Will he be held accountable for violating the rules of the tribunal? Nobody from The Hague wanted to comment on this.

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