Former U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin said on Tuesday he declined to appear as a prosecution witness in the trial of ex-Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, criticising the length of his detention and questioning the fairness of the proceedings.
Rubin told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague that it was “unfair” for Thaçi and three co-defendants to remain in custody for more than five years despite surrendering voluntarily.
“They surrendered voluntarily and cooperated with the prosecution. I don’t understand why they stayed in prison for so long. This worries me,” Rubin said.
The four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders are charged with persecution, murder, torture and forced disappearance during and after the 1998-99 conflict with Serbian forces. They deny all charges.
Rubin, who served under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and took part in Kosovo peace talks, said the lengthy pre-trial detention “has nothing to do with the rule of law.” He added that Albright never envisioned such practices when she pushed for the creation of international war crimes tribunals in the 1990s.
“To me, this simply seemed like a collective condemnation because the accused was a leader of the KLA,” Rubin told the court. He argued that Thaçi had limited influence over KLA commanders during the conflict.
The Specialist Chambers, seated in the Netherlands and staffed by international judges, was established in 2015 to prosecute crimes committed by former KLA members under Kosovo law. Many Kosovars view the court as biased against the guerrilla movement that fought for independence from Serbia.
More than 13,000 people were killed in the conflict. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Serbia does not recognise.