EU police searching office of Kosovo war veterans group

Witnesses say European Union security police have stormed the offices of a war veterans association in Kosovo

Kosovo War Crimes Arrest (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

European Union security police stormed the offices of a war veterans association in Kosovo, apparently to get hold of international prosecutors' files from a war crimes investigation that the association said it received anonymously, according to witnesses and veterans.

Members of the veterans’ association, which represents the former ethnic Albanian separatists who fought Serbian troops in a 1998-1999 war for independence, said police from the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, or EULEX, prevented them from going into the association's offices on Friday.

Faton Klinaku, the association's secretary, told reporters that police officers speaking different languages, including Kosovar police forces, had entered the offices in Pristina.

An Associated Press video journalist observed police officers telling journalists to move away from the entrance.

EULEX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the police operation.

Earlier this week, the war veterans group said that for the third time in two months an unknown person had provided war crime files from a special international court in The Hague, Netherlands, probing alleged crimes by Kosovo Liberation Army members during and after the Balkan nation’s war.

The veterans said they would make the files public.

Christopher Bennett, spokesman of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, said that releasing the documents would be “undermining the proper administration of justice” and a criminal act.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers is looking into allegations that Kosovo Liberation Army members committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On Thursday The Hague-based court arrested a former KLA commander on charges including torture of detainees and the murder of one prisoner held at a compound in Kosovo. He was taken to the court’s detention center in Netherlands.

Kosovar President Hashim Thaci, former parliamentary speaker Kadri Veseli, and others have been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, enforced disappearances, persecution and torture. Both men have denied committing any crimes.

A pretrial judge hasn’t made a decision on whether to proceed with their case.

The 1998-1999 war for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia left more than 10,000 people dead — most of them ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, and more than 1,600 people remain unaccounted for. The fighting ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian troops.

Kosovo, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by many Western nations but not Serbia or its allies Russia and China.

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Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.