UN tribunal allows indicted ex-Kosovo PM to resume political activities News
UN tribunal allows indicted ex-Kosovo PM to resume political activities

[JURIST] The UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] has said that it will allow former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj [BBC profile] to participate in politics during his provisional release pending his war crimes trial. The tribunal eased the conditions of Haradinaj's release [ICTY decision], giving the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) [official website] the ability to allow or reject his proposed political activities on a case-by-case basis. Haradinaj, a former regional commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army [BBC backgrounder], faces charges [ICTY case backgrounder] of murder, rape and deportation of Serb civilians during the war against Serb forces in 1998-99. He was commended for quickly turning himself over to the tribunal earlier this year upon his indictment. One dissenting tribunal judge disagreed with the decision to give the UNMIK authority over Haradinaj's political activities, saying it would give Kosovo citizens the impression that he was being gradually reinstated as a key political leader. No date has yet been set for Haradinaj's trial. Reuters has more.