Friday, March 10, 2006

ICTY tightens release conditions of ex-Kosovo PM Haradinaj pending war crimes trial

An appeals panel of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] ruled Friday that former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], currently held at the Hague pending trial for alleged war crimes against Kosovar Serbs, can be provisionally released and allowed to go back to Kosovo until his trial begins in 2007 [JURIST report], but only on condition that any requests by him to appear in public and engage in public political activities be cleared by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) [official website] with the advice of the prosecution, and that UNMIK must justify to the court and to the prosecution any permission granted.

The Trial Chamber of the court first granted provisional release to Haradinaj [JURIST report]in June 2005, but ICTY prosecutors who had objected to his resumption of political activity in the country appealed. The Appeals Chamber subsequently stayed the ruling [JURIST report] in December pending its own decision.

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