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ICTY convicts Albanians for interfering with Haradinaj witnesses

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Two ethnic Albanians from Kosovo were found guilty of contempt Wednesday in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Astrit Haraqija was sentenced to five months in prison, and Bajrush Morina was sentenced to three months for interfering with a witness during the trial of former Kosovo Albanian military leader Ramush Haradinaj. The trial chamber found that Haraqija exercised influence over Morina and that Morina told a witness that other witnesses who had testified against Haradinaj had been killed. The court found:t was clear that Bajrush Morina's words were intended and could only be understood as a strong and unequivocal call on Witness 2 to refrain from testifying in the Haradinaj et al. case. In the Trial Chamber's view, such behaviour constituted intimidation.The court also found that Haraqija abused his position as Kosovo Minister for Culture, Youth, and Sport. In July, the ICTY convicted a Kosovar journalist of exposing the identity of a witness involved with the Haradinaj trial. Haradinaj was a senior commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the ethnic Albanian guerrilla force that opposed Slobodan Milosevic during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. He was indicted by ICTY prosecutors in 2005. Haradinaj was acquitted in April, but former Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte's claims of witness intimidation have brought the proceedings under scrutiny. Prosecutors are now appealing.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).