On Thursday the former Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj was found not guilty of all the charges leveled against him by prosecutors for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Needless to say, the verdict was welcomed by Kosovo Albanians and criticised by both Serbs and the tribunal’s prosecutors who had looked to punish Haradinaj with a twenty-five year sentence. He had been accused of a litany of offences ranging from rape and torture to the murder of Serbs and Albanian collaborators during the Kosovo conflict between Serbian security forces and Albanian rebels that was brought to a close by NATO intervention.

The verdict has consequences that go far beyond the personal sphere of Haradinaj or even that of Kosovo as a whole. Whilst one of Haradinaj’s codefendants was sentenced to six years incarceration, this will do little to ease Serbian fears that the ICTY is a Western orientated tool used to oppress them. Current Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica derided the verdict, stating that it made a “mockery of innocent victims”. Whilst it is true that the majority of those indicted by the ICTY have been ethnic-Serbs, it seems that the culture of victimhood held by Serbs makes it impossible for them to realise that they instigated the wars in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo and are thus far more likely to have a disproportionate number of accusations against them. Slovenes, Bosnians and Croats were not involved in the Kosovo conflict so it is only natural that they would not be charged with crimes here, while similarly Kosovo Albanians were not participants in the Croatian Homeland War and thus are not accused in relation to it. The only common denominator between all of the wars was Serbian aggression and hence Serbs are well represented in the files of prosecutors.

Vladimir Vukcevic, a Serbian war crimes prosecutor, argued that Haradinaj’s verdict proved it was time for the closure of the ICTY since it no longer carries the respect it requires. Unfortunately for Vukcevic and other Serbs who share his sentiments, this is unlikely to ever happen while there is even the slimmest of chances that Serbian warlords Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic can be captured. It is fair enough that Haradinaj’s verdict displeased some, by the very fact it was a verdict this will mean that people will have varying opinions on it, but to his credit Haradinaj has had his day in court. The same can not be said for either Mladic or Karadzic, the men believed to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent victims during the Bosnian conflict. The ICTY will continue, thankfully, until justice catches up with these two cowards.

The Haradinaj verdict will also offer a glimmer of hope to Croatian supporters of General Ante Gotovina. Whilst Haradinaj was certainly no angel, his acquittal, similar to the gentle punishment of Srebrenica’s Bosnian defender Naser Oric, shows that The Hague’s judges are capable of appreciating the context in which events took place. As a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Haradinaj’s men do carry responsibility for avoidable civilian deaths and mistreatment. This does not mean that Haradinaj himself is some perverse mother figure who must take full responsibility for the errors of grown men. Croats and other sympathisers of Ante Gotovina will hope that the same line of thought will be respected when dealing with their man.

When placed in a political context, the judgment of Haradinaj was a loser across the board. Had he been found guilty then Kosovo Serbs would have argued that this proves that men like him and his colleagues, particularly Hashim Thaci, have no legitimate right to rule over them. With the verdict as it was, the Serbs will cry foul and argue that it is only against them that guilty decisions are made. Ultimately, this form of thought can only change with the arrival of Mladic and Karadzic to the ICTY and about 50 years of peaceful history passing. Wounds were very deep on all sides following the Second World War but all sides managed to successfully live alongside each other during Tito’s Yugoslavia. Nobody would advocate a return the repressive measures that Tito’s confidents, such as Rankovic in particular, employed, but rather an attempt to foster a collective European/global ideology through ethnic integration and institutions such as the European Union and NATO. Is this possible? With good governance free from corruption and political manipulation of the masses, as is sadly the case with groups such as Vojislav Seselj’s Radical Party in Serbia at the moment, it has every chance.

SEE Times article
Pro-Serbian viewpoint
The Times article
New Kosova Report article