„I expect a conviction,“ the former Special War Crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic said, speaking of the arrest and detention of former KLA leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi by the Specialist War Crimes Chambers in The Hague.
Witness protection is crucial for the current proceedings before the Special Court, Vukcevic stressed, recalled the case against Ramush Haradinaj when as many as 19 witnesses lost their lives. The former prosecutor also stressed that even now, according to the KLA War Veterans Association from Pristina, certain documents have been leaked and witnesses have been identified which, according to Vukcevic, is the „only“ thing that could jeopardize the cases.
„I believe in that court, there are experienced judges who know how to question witnesses,“ he said in the talk-show “Medju nama” on Nova S. He added that witnesses recant their statements due to threats even in the most ordinary trials, and that they should be protected from intimidation.
According to Vukcevic, the Serbian prosecutor’s office did a „great job“ back in the day and the results of its work and cooperation with the Clint Williamson investigation are now visible. He revealed that he is optimistic and that this was what precisely he expected as the result of the investigation and Dick Marty’s resolution.
In addition to Vukcevic, the journalist and author of the documentary film on the Yellow House, Radoslavka Zigic Despotovic also made a guest appearance on the talk-show “Medju nama.” She stated that, in the case of such grave crimes, the political context in which they are being investigated is also important. Zigic Despotovic revealed that when she made the film in Albania, she never would have expected that an international court could investigate the crimes presented in it. The political context is also important because of the witnesses who will now be well-guarded, she underlined.
„It is no longer as easy it was for Haradinaj when the indictments against him were dropped during all those years, and when he was destroying clues,“ she added, citing this as the reason why she expects verdicts that will „carry weight“.
She emphasized that there are living witnesses from the time of the investigation of Carla del Ponte and the Yellow House.
The former KLA spokesman Jakup Krasniqi mentioned Vukcevic during his hearing yesterday, alleging that the Special Court in The Hague was even more unfair than the Yugoslav regime, which detained him twice, and that even according to Vukcevic’s findings, he was not responsible for any crimes.
„In criminal proceedings, everyone can tell the truth, except the accused, the accused can lie,“ Vukcevic responded to Krasniqi’s allegations, adding that the former KLA spokesman had abused his name.
There are no allegations about the Yellow House and organ trafficking in the part of the indictment available to the public –Hashim Thaci’s defense attorney, David Hooper pointed out yesterday during Thaci’s first hearing. Hooper criticized the court because it was based on those allegations, which he claimed were false.
Zigic Despotovic noted that one of the investigations led the former prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, Carla del Ponte to the Yellow House, but that she was not allowed to examine the terrain and investigate several dozen unmarked tombs near that house.
„The yellow house is located about 15 kilometers north of a small town called Burel, in the village of Riba. It is the central part of Albania that slopes to the north. In a mountain village. Near that Yellow House, there is a cemetery that was an important part of the evidence of what was Carla del Ponte’s attempt to investigate, where there were a dozen unmarked graves,“ said the author of the film on the Yellow House.
Zigic Despotovic stated that del Ponte nevertheless brought important evidence from the site, which was not preserved in the Hague Tribunal because three years have passed since they were sealed.
„Traces of blood, the use of luminol to ascertain whether there were traces of blood, to examine whether it was of animal origin or not, syringes and gauze, drug residues, relaxants given postoperatively for muscle relaxation and various other clues that indicated that that organ removal was very likely performed in that Yellow House, as well as later in the prison hospital in the town of Burel.“
Vukcevic, however, denied that the tribunal had destroyed the evidence, specifying that the material evidence deteriorates over time, but that the video material and photographs had been preserved. He also reminded that del Ponte came to the Yellow House following the traces of crime committed by Ramush Haradinaj and that the evidence remained unused because they could not link it to him.
Zigic Despotovic said that the Serbian prosecutor’s office also collected plenty of evidence that helped to „properly set up“ Dick Marty’s investigation. Speaking about her film on the Yellow House, she revealed that, in addition to places where operations were suspected to have taken place, she also filmed camps where people who were perceived by the „KLA“ as disloyal to Albanians, as well as Serbs and Roma, were tortured.
She emphasized, however, that what happened in the Yellow House was organized crime as a consequence of a war crime, and that it is important to differentiate this.
Speaking about the period before the launch of Dick Marty’s investigation, Vukcevic emphasized the importance of the media. Although he spoke in the European Parliament about the evidence and drugs found at the site in Albania on two occasions, adding that it had horrified the European parliamentarians, the article by journalist Michael Montgomery published in the US played a key role in the resolution being adopted in the Council of Europe.
„When the Americans, and their then legal advisor Sam Lazzaro, heard that we had obtained certain information, they immediately came to me and asked me what I would do. I said that it was best to go to Albania and try to cooperate with their prosecutors. We had 11 locations where, to our knowledge, the remains of the victims were located and we asked for an exhumation. The Americans said they would provide the logistics.“
Vukcevic said that he visited the Albanian prosecutor Ejna Rama, to whom he presented the locations suspected to contain the bodies – and which overlapped with the del Ponte investigation. However, a negative response arrived from Albania, which is why the investigation of those 11 locations was never conducted.
Zigic Despotovic stated that such an investigation at the time would have been a „mission impossible,“ noting that she and her colleague prepared for four months to shoot the film in Albania.
She also recalled that, at that time, the President of Albania was Sali Berisha, whose family home in the village in the north of Albania housed the General Staff of the „KLA“. Vukcevic then added that one of the suspicious locations planned for exhumation was located 5 km from the family home of Sali Berisha.
„It seems to me that there is a serious chance that this will be done now,“ Zigic Despotovic concluded.
You can watch Zigic Despotovic’s film below:
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