VUKSANOVIĆ WARNS PRIŠTINA UNREST COULD SPILL OVER INTO EUROPE

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 6 /SRNA/ - Violence on the streets of Priština by supporters of the terrorist KLA, angered by the verdict against Hashim Thaci and his associates, could spread to some European cities because Kosovo Albanians are accustomed to achieving their aims by force, Slaviša Vuksanović, legal representative of the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons from Kosovo and Metohija, told SRNA.

"Through these demonstrations, they want to exert additional pressure on the authorities of the provisional institutions in Kosovo and Metohija in an attempt to have the Specialist Chambers abolished, which of course will not be possible because it is not that simple," he said.

Vuksanović said Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as Albanians who do not support the KLA, were being held hostage by such policies. He said various declarations and laws were being adopted in self-proclaimed Kosovo to prevent discussion of KLA crimes and their victims, adding that public statements on the subject could even entail criminal liability if they referred to the activities of Albanian separatists against Serbs and other non-Albanians.

"If we look at the four criminal offences in the indictment for which Hashim Thaci and the other three members of the so-called Drenica group were convicted, as well as the victims listed as having been tortured and detained, especially the final count involving 96 people who were killed, no reasonable person could expect an acquittal," he said.

Vuksanović said such expectations were completely absurd, noting that there were already two final convictions against Salih Mustafa and Pjeter Shala.

He said those involved in the crimes were aware that such actions could again have negative consequences for them, adding that proceedings against former KLA leaders had not ended with the verdict against Thaci and the others.

"When the first-instance verdict was handed down, a member of the judicial panel mentioned another seven Albanians who had taken part in this joint criminal enterprise, but they were not covered by this verdict. We therefore expect proceedings to continue against other individuals responsible for kidnappings, killings and causing extensive material and non-material harm to Serb and non-Albanian residents," he said.

Vuksanović said the verdict against Thaci and the others amounted to a form of compromise because it covered only crimes committed before the arrival of international forces.

"For all other criminal offences, the court stated that they were outside its jurisdiction and mandate, and that has also been clearly demonstrated in earlier reports and by the advisory bodies of the Human Rights Commission established by the UN in 2006," Vuksanović said.

He reminded that it had then been established that UNMIK had failed to conduct investigations or take the steps required of it.

"A conclusion was then reached at the level of the Council of Europe and the Council of Ministers that compensation should be paid to families that had submitted claims and complaints, but unfortunately nothing came of it because the European community has shown no understanding for the suffering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija," he said.

Vuksanović said there was no doubt that countries that had taken part in the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and later arrived in Kosovo and Metohija under the guise of protecting and securing the population, but in reality with the aim of exploiting its mineral wealth and strategic position, were trying to conceal their role.

He said that most of the victims covered by the verdict handed down by the Specialist Chambers in The Hague against Thaci and the others were ethnic Albanians, but that a smaller number were Serbs.

Vuksanović said the Association had therefore finally seen, after 28 years, the first verdict for crimes against Serbs, although only a small number of Serb victims were covered.

"At last there is a verdict recognizing and acknowledging Serbs as victims as well," he added.

Protests by KLA veterans and their supporters, which escalated in Priština yesterday, have been under way since September 16, when first-instance verdicts were handed down in The Hague against former KLA leaders Hashim Thaci, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi, sentencing them to a combined 81 years in prison for war crimes.