TIRANA, July 20 – Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned on Friday, after being called to be questioned at The Hague, by the International Criminal Court.
He said he is to appear in front of the court next week and that he would not like to face it in the capacity of the country’s PM, therefore submitting his irreversible resignation.
In a letter addressed to the citizens of Kosovo, Haradinaj wrote that “ the Prime Minister and state’s honor should be preserved, and I will never throw dirt on it. I will face those who make up stuff in the Hague as Ramush Haradinaj, in the way Albanian honor calls for. My innocence and the UCK (Kosovo Liberation Army) war, confirmed by two verdicts, can not be stained by anyone and never. My state is Kosovo, untouched in its multiethnicity, multilingualism, territory and borders.”
He further wrote that “Kosovo is being unjustly pressured for the price of being recognized from Serbia. The division or the Dodik Republic are unaffordable for Kosovo and the stability of the region. As Prime Minister of the Government of Kosovo I strongly believe that the price for recognition is the market and for this reason, the tax should be the price of recognition. The international community is making the mistake of insisting on an unaffordable price for the recognition of Kosovo.”
He added it is now up to the country’s president to act and take the country to early elections.
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, meanwhile, wrote on social networks that several former Kosovo Liberation Army officials were invited to The Hague.
“I regretfully learned that the Special Court invited to question former chief of staff of the KLA, Bislim Zyrapi, also my advisor, former commander of the Dukagjini Operational Zone, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, as well as some other former KLA officers. I was also informed by the media about the decision of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, for the irreversible resignation from his position. I respect his decision and as President of the Republic of Kosovo assure you that I will act based on my constitutional and legal competences for which the citizens of Kosovo will be informed on time,” Thaci said.
Kosovo Parliament Speaker Kadri Veseli wrote that “I regretfully learned from the media about the call made by the Special Court to my comrades and the resignation of Prime Minister
Ramush Haradinaj. The struggle of the Kosovo Liberation Army has been clean and fair and I am sure that the honesty of our people’s struggle for freedom and independence will be reaffirmed again. The government coalition was built to make big decisions for Kosovo and protect the values of the KLA. All of our actions and decisions will be in Kosovo’s and our citizens’ best interests and in full compliance with our laws,” he wrote in social networks.
Kosovo Democratic League Chairman Isa Mustafa wrote that the “LDK has consistently demanded that this government resign, but we regret that this happens because of the invitation from the Special Chambers of the Prime Minister of Kosovo. I strongly believe that the war of the Kosovo Liberation Army has been fair and clean and I also believe that the innocence of Haradinaj will prevail again.”
Vetevendosje’s Speaker of Parliament, Albin Kurti, expressing his opposition to the War Crimes Tribunal, said the resignation of the prime minister was “overdue but for the wrong reasons.”
This is the second time Haradinaj resigns from the post of PM. He resigned from the post of prime minister of the country on March 8, 2005 to voluntarily surrender to the war crimes tribunal in the former Yugoslavia, whose prosecution accused him and his two fellow war crimes co-perpetrators.
The process against Haradinaj started on March 5, 2007 and ended in April 2008, when his innocence was declared. Haradinaj returned for a partial retrial in July 2010, which was the first such case in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
On November 29, 2012, he was again declared innocent.
He is currently the highest official summoned to appear in The Hague, where dozens of former members of the Kosovo Liberation Armyhave been invited up to now.
At the beginning of August 2015, Kosovo’s parliament adopted by majority vote the law on the Special Court, which by the names of the specialized chambers, will operate in The Hague, under Kosovo laws and with international prosecutors and courts.
The idea for court establishment followed investigations into allegations of Council of Europe representative Dick Martty of organ trafficking in Kosovo, namely through the involvement of some of the former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders in war crimes.
Investigations fueled reactions and protests in Kosovo, where it was claimed these are efforts to equate the UCK war to the atrocities of Serbian forces during the 1998-1999 war that ended with NATO intervention.
