Kosovo PM pleads not guilty to war crimes

THE HAGUE - Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has pleaded not guilty at The Hague to charges of murder, rape and deportation of civilians as a guerrilla leader in a 1998-99 war against Serb forces.

Haradinaj, a former regional commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), resigned as Prime Minister last week to face charges at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, winning praise for his quick compliance with the court.

Dressed in a navy suit and red tie, Haradinaj pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war, including murder, rape, deportation and cruel treatment of Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanians in 1998.

Haradinaj, 36, is accused by UN prosecutors of waging a campaign to drive Serbs and Roma from their villages and for attacks on ethnic Albanian and Roma civilians believed by the KLA to be collaborators from early March to late September 1998.

Considered a hero by many Kosovo Albanians, Haradinaj is the most senior former KLA guerrilla to be indicted over the war against Serb forces and the first serving head of government to be indicted since former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Two of Haradinaj's former KLA aides pleaded not guilty to the 35 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war against them at the same hearing. The charges against Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj include murder and rape.

"It is unjust that Ramush and his friends, who are patriots, have been taken to The Hague knowing they defended our homes, liberated us and brought freedom to Kosovo," said Hakif Hyseni, watching the trial on TV in a Pristina cafe.

Prosecutors say KLA forces under Haradinaj's command harassed, beat and expelled Serbs and Roma from their villages, killing those left behind, and abducted perceived collaborators during a campaign marked by murder and cruel treatment.

Balaj, commander of a special KLA unit called the "Black Eagles", and Brahimaj, a relative of Haradinaj and deputy KLA commander of his Dukagjin region, surrendered to the court with Haradinaj last week.

The rape charges against all three relate to an alleged assault of a Roma woman by Balaj.

Haradinaj, who resigned as prime minister after only 100 days in office, will apply to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for release pending trial, his defence lawyer Rodney Dixon said.

"He has co-operated fully and within the space of just a few days has arrived here in The Hague," Dixon said.

In Kosovo, some Haradinaj supporters wore t-shirts on Monday saying: "Our PM has work to do here. "

Haradinaj, whose surrender was applauded by the United Nations, Nato and the European Union, has called evidence against him an attempt to discredit the KLA by those close to Milosevic.

Milosevic has been on trial at the Hague since February 2002, charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

Fears of a violent backlash over Haradinaj's indictment saw British troops reinforcing the Nato-led peace force in Kosovo, run by the United Nations since 11 weeks of Nato bombing drove out Serb forces in 1999.

Revenge attacks for Serb repression of Albanian civilians prompted up to 200,000 Serb civilians to flee their religious heartland after the victory of the Albanian guerrillas.

A former nightclub bouncer in Switzerland who was appointed prime minister in late 2004, Haradinaj has urged Kosovo's Albanian majority of close to 2 million people to keep up their struggle for independence.

- REUTERS