http://www.kosovo.com/ramush.html
Crimes of the KLA: Command responsibility of Ramush Haradinaj
Massacre in the village of his birth
The leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo was the commander
of the district where several dozens of non-Albanians were killed in 1998
By Jelena BJELICA
The village of Glodjane is located in Metohija, approximately seven
kilometers from Decani and about 20 kilometers from the border with
Albania. Glodjane is a purely ethnic Albanian village. In its
immediate proximity in the village of Dubrava, at the beginning of
which is a house belonging to the only non-Albanian family in the ten
or so surrounding villages, some 100 meters from the last house in
Glodjane, belonging to Eljmija Haradinaj. The Haradinaj family has
been quite involved in crimes against Serbs.
The commander
"The local Albanians say that everything began when a police patrol
leaving from Glodjane tried to stop and obtain the identification
cards two young men, Rasim Selmanaj, an activist of the Democratic
Alliance of Kosovo, and another young man whose name is not mentioned.
According to another version of the story, the police opened fire on
Rasim and the other young man when they refused to stop. According to
the official report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of
Serbia, on March 24, 1998 at 10:45 a.m., an armed terrorist attack was
carried out against a police patrol in the village of Dubrava, Decani
municipality, Kosovo and Metohija.", it is stated in the report of the
Humanitarian Rights Foundation (Fond za humanitarna prava - FHP) from
May 1998. On that day, as confirmed by a KLA statement from May 1998,
during "a successful operation against the occupier" near Glodjane,
fighters Gazmend and Agron Mehmetaj and Him Haradinaj were killed. The
police withdrew from the village at about 8:00 o'clock in the evening.
After these clashes, the Kosovo Liberation Army established control
points at the entrance and exit from the village and took control of it.
At the beginning of the same year, Ramush Haradinaj returned
permanently from Switzerland to Kosovo and joined this Albanian
paramilitary formation. His brother Daut was one of the key people of
the KLA, responsible for its organization in the Metohija district.
Daut was one of three members of the KLA who appeared for the first
time in public in the village of Drenica at the funeral of a teacher
killed by the Serbian police. At that funeral, he gave a speech in
which he stated that the KLA officially exists. At the beginning of
April, the command headquarters of the KLA, under the command of
Hashim Thaci, appointed Ramush Haradinaj commander of the Metohija
region. Haradinaj's headquarters was located in Glodjane, where he was
born, according to the book "Stories of War and Freedom" by Bardah
Hamzaj, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Pristina daily "Zeri",
prepared in the format of a dialog with Ramush Haradinaj.
The crimes
Not knowing that his father had been taken from his house, on the
morning of April 22, 1998, Novak Stijovic headed for the village of
Pozar with the intent of accompanying his father to Decani. Stanisa
Radosevic and his mother Rosa went with him in search of Slobodan
Radosevic (the father) who one day earlier had decided to remain in
the village of Dasinovac with Milica and Milos Radunovic and look
after his property after the KLA took control of the village. In the
village of Pozar, they were stopped by a group of armed Albanians. In
a statement made for FHP, Novak said: "There were about 30 of them; we
recognized them. They pointed guns at us. They searched us and said
that they had to take us to the headquarters in Glodjane. One of them
held a gun pointed at my head. On the road to Rznici, there were 50-60
armed civilians every 50 meters; from Rznici to Glodjane, everyone was
in uniform." All three were released later that same day but they were
not allowed to go to Dasinovac to get Slobodan.
Almost all citizens who were stopped on any of the local roads in
spring of 1998 were taken to the headquarters in Glodjane. In the
headquarters in Glodjane, members of the KLA applied well-known
methods. "They took us to the headquarters in the house of Nasim
Haradinaj, abandoned back in 1990; we had heard that the owners were
living in Sweden," said Mijat Stojanovic in a statement for FHP.
Stojanovic is the owner of the only non-Albanian house in Dubrava; on
April 18 he was arrested in his house, together with his brother
Dragoslav and cousin Veselin Stijovic, and they were taken to the
headquarters. "We were forced to lie down on concrete. First they took
Dragoslav into a small room where there were two chairs. There were
two soldiers there and a third who interrogated him. Nemonaj Zici,
whom I knew from before, ordered me to remove my clothes. Two of them
beat me with clubs and rifle butts. This lasted approximately 40 minutes."
The lake
In the general area of the village of Glodjane in the first half of
September 1998 at least 39 bodies were discovered in various stages of
decomposition. The bodies were found at three different locations on a
collective farm in the village of Rznici, in a canal leading to
Radonjic Lake and near it, and proximate to the canal in the village
of Dasinovac.
During the course of events, after yet another clash between members
of the KLA and the (Yugoslav) army and (Serbian) police on September
8, 1998, during "pursuit after terrorists and a search of the
district," as written in the official police report, 13 unidentified
bodies of civilians of both sexes and various ages were discovered in
the canal supplying Radonjic Lake.
Bodies of victims killed by KLA (UCK) and thrown into the Radonjic
Lake canal
The very next day the investigating judge of the District Court in
Pec, Radomir Gojkovic, wrote a petition to the Institute for Forensic
Medicine in Belgrade requesting the appointment of a group of experts
for establishing the identity, causes and time of death and other data
relevant for future activities in connection with the mass grave near
Gl odjane. In the meanwhile, during the first phase of searching the
district begun on September 11, at least 21 additional bodies were
found. "During the first several days of the investigation the weather
was dry, sunny and warm. Several days later it began to rain. The
level of water in the canal rose significantly, carrying body parts,
clothing and objects down the canal.", it is written in the report.
Several days later, five additional bodies were found. During the
autopsy 12 of these bodies were identified. The bodies of the
above-mentioned Radunovices and Radosevic, last seen at the end of
April, were found near the canal in the village of Dasinovac. "Due to
various stages of decomposition, it was not possible to establish the
cause of death solely on the basis of the conducted autopsy. However,
in 19 cases traces of wounds were found on the bones and there is no
doubt that they are made by bullets fired from weapons of a small
caliber. In 24 cases signs of mechanical weapons were found; in two
cases there were traces of sharp mechanical weapons, while in three
instances, according to the marks on the bones and clothes of the
victims, they were exposed to high temperatures (bodies found in
Dasinovac). Several objects on and near the bodies (metal wire and
adhesive tape) suggest that some of the victims were first tied up and
tortured," it is written in the experts' report on the cause of death.
All the victims were killed during the period between April 1998 and
the end of August of the same year, give or take a few days.
Controversive Ramush Haradinaj
Epilog
At the end of 1999 the chief prosecutor of the Hague tribunal, Carla
del Ponte, announced that an investigation had been started regarding
war crimes against the non-Albanian population in Kosovo. The
investigation was almost completely blocked until recently because
information was not forthcoming from either side, the spokeswoman of
the prosecutor's office of the Hague tribunal, Florence Hartmann
(Florence Hartmann-Domankusic), told "Reporter". The new government in
Serbia, according to Hartmann, has submitted all documentation to The
Hague. "Indictments will be issued only against those persons against
whom we have evidence," she explained. Zoran Zivkovic, the Yugoslav
minister of internal affairs, told "Reporter" that "more than 30
kilograms of various documents were turned over to the head of the
office of the Hague tribunal in Belgrade." In the meanwhile, the
investigators of this tribunal have collected about 80 testimonials
from family members of the missing and witnesses.
Despite increasingly frequent public discussion (in Serbia) that Agim
Cheku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj are under investigation by
the Hague tribunal, Hartmann said that "the investigation is in
progress", however, she added that she "never confirmed that these
three men are under investigation."
Biography
Ramush Haradinaj was born on July 3, 1968 in the village of Glodjane,
municipality of Decani. He completed primary school in Rznici and
secondary school in Decani and Djakovica. He wanted to study astronomy
and enrolled at the University of Pristina in 1987. However, the same
year he went to serve in the Yugoslav People's Army. He completed his
mandatory military service in Pirot and Dimitrovgrad. After his return
he wanted to continue his studies but in 1989 after (student)
demonstrations, he emigrated to Switzerland. He has no permanent
employment. Haradinaj frequently traveled illegally to Kosovo, hiding
from the police. He left Kosovo for good in 1991 and worked as a
bouncer in a nightclub in Switzerland. In the mid-1990's he lived in
Tirana, where he began to prepare for "rebellion". He transferred arms
to Kosovo through the Prokletija mountains. His two brothers were
killed during clashes. A memorial to one of the two brothers was built
in Pec. Ramush Haradinaj speaks Albanian, English and French. He was
formerly married to a Finnish woman. He has a minor son, Skeljzen. He
is the president of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, the fourth
largest political party in Kosovo.
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