Search Results for: kosovo

As the diplomatic and military consequences of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan continue to unfold, the true human cost remains immeasurable. Months after the last US forces departed from Kabul, leaving the country under Taliban rule, many face persecution for having upheld the very democratic ideals Washington and its allies spent two decades fostering [...]

Samuel Moyn’s vicious and unprincipled attack on Michael Ratner, one of the finest human rights attorneys of our time, was published in the New York Review of Books (NYRB) on September 1. Moyn singles out Ratner as a whipping boy to support his own bizarre theory that punishing war crimes prolongs war by making it [...]

Belgian authorities arrested a Kosovo war crimes suspect on Tuesday. Pjetёr Shala was wanted “pursuant to an arrest warrant and confirmed indictment related to war crimes” according to a pre-trial judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC). He is being held in Belgium until he can be moved to the KSC detention facilities in The [...]

Kosovo is preparing for early elections after the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the election of Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti. The court annulled the parliamentary vote that confirmed Hoti’s coalition cabinet because one of the participating MPs had been convicted for fraud and embezzlement. Hoti was installed as prime minister in June after his party, supported by [...]

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci stepped down Thursday to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1990s armed conflict against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) for Kosovo’s independence. Thaci was indicted in June on crimes of persecution, imprisonment, illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, [...]

Kosovo’s Specialist Chambers announced the arrest and transfer to The Hague of accused war criminal Salih Mustafa on Thursday. Mustafa is the first person arrested and third to be indicted by the office. Established in 2015, the chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office are charged with investigating and trying people accused of committing war crimes [...]

Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbaue on Tuesday announced that she had ordered the partial dissolution of the elite Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) commando unit. The unit has faced several recent allegations, including the discovery of missing munitions, growing internal ties to far-right extremists, and allegations they have become independent of the military’s chain of command. Kramp-Karrenbauer told [...]

Hashim Thaci, the President of Kosovo, was indicted Wednesday by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) for crimes against humanity committed during the 1998-1999 Serbian civil war. The SPO filed a 10-count indictment “charging Hashim THAÇI, Kadri VESELI, and others with a range of crimes against humanity and war crimes, [...]

As COVID-19 spreads in different parts of the world, many countries have resorted to “national quarantine” or lockdown. Travel bans and closure of activities has resulted in a complete halt of society. Different countries are using their own set of domestic laws for planning action against the spread of Coronavirus. After declaring it a “pandemic”, [...]

Ramush Haradinaj, the former prime minister of Kosovo, was in The Hague Tuesday to answer questions about war crimes allegedly committed during the 1989-99 war. Haradinaj resigned last week “not to be questioned as the country’s leader” by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. He ultimately declined to answer any of the prosecutors’ questions, presumably on the [...]