Gli Intoccabili / The Untouchables
Dopo Hasim Thaci (*) anche Agim Ceku - responsabile delle stragi in
Slavonia come ufficiale croato prima ancora che in Kosovo-Metohija come
terrorista dell'UCK - e' stato arrestato e liberato a velocita' record.
Ceku e' stato immediatamente rilasciato in seguito all'intervento
diretto dell'UNMIK, organizzazione evidentemente dedita alla protezione
dei criminali di guerra alleati della NATO oltreche' alla copertura del
genocidio delle nazionalita' non albanesi, in atto in Kosovo-Metohija.
(a cura di I. Slavo)
(*) vedi:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2622
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2642
=== ITALIANO ===
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/kosovo/kosovo.shtml
KOSOVO: FERMATO IN SLOVENIA EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - L'ex capo militare dell'Esercito di
liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) Agim Ceku e' stato fermato oggi
all'aeroporto della citta' di Lubiana: lo riferisce l'agenzia di
stampa kosova online Kosovapress. Secondo la fonte Ceku, che e'
attualmente comandante generale del corpo di protezione del Kosovo
(Tmk), e' colpito da un vecchio ordine di arresto delle autorita' di
Belgrado.(ANSA). BLL
22/10/2003 15:27
KOSOVO: FERMO CEKU, BELGRADO CHIEDE ESTRADIZIONE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 22 OTT - Il ministro della giustizia serbo Vladan
Batic ha chiesto al collega incaricato dei diritti umani e delle
minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per l'estradizione di criminali di
guerra - di contattare urgentemente le autorita' slovene perche' venga
estradato in Serbia Agim Ceku, comandante del Corpo di protezione del
Kosovo ed ex alto esponente del disciolto Esercito di liberazione
kosovaro (Uck). Batic ha accusato Ceku di ''genocidio nei confronti
del popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro l'esponente kosovaro albanese,
un tribunale di Nis (Serbia del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un
mandato di cattura internazionale. ''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro
dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se
non ci saranno pressioni da parte di potentati, dovra' essere
estradato''. Il ministro ha espresso ''la speranza che non si ripeta
quanto e' accaduto a Budapest'', quando venne fermato per un controllo
il leader kosovaro albanese Hasim Taqi, contro il quale Belgrado aveva
emesso un ordine di cattura. Taqi venne liberato dopo alcune ore,
nonostante le richieste di estradizione di Belgrado. (ANSA).
OT 22/10/2003 17:27
KOSOVO: ARRESTO CEKU, UNMIK IMPEGNATA PER LIBERAZIONE
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - La missione delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo
(Unmik) e' ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenere la liberazione 'il
piu' presto possibile'' di Agim Ceku, il comandante generale del
Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk) fermato oggi all'aeroporto di
Lubiana perche' colpito da ordine di cattura internazionale emesso
dalle autorita' serbe. Una portavoce dell'Umnik ha detto all'Ansa che
lo sforzo diplomatico per giungere ad una rapida scarcerazione del
generale Ceku ''e' massimo''. La portavoce sottolinea che il Tmk
e' un organismo costituito dalla missione delle Nazioni Unite ed e'
percio' naturale che oggi l'Unmik si adoperi per la liberazione del
suo comandante. La portavoce ha aggiunto di non essere in grado di
precisare a quando risalga l'ordine di cattura che ha colpito Ceku
ne' quali possano essere i tempi del suo ritorno in liberta': ''Per
noi la parola d'ordine - ha concluso - e' il piu' presto possibile''.
BLL/IMP 22/10/2003 18:14
KOSOVO: SLOVENIA; RILASCIATO AGIM CEKU, EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 23 OTT - Agim Ceku, l'ex capo militare
dell'Esercito di liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) fermato ieri dalla
polizia slovena, e' stato rilasciato in nottata a Lubiana. Lo ha
annunciato un portavoce del Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk), la
forza civile succeduta all'Uck.
''Il generale Ceku e' stato rilasciato intorno alle 1:15. Abbiamo
parlato con lui per telefono, sta molto bene'', ha detto all'agenzia
Reuters il portavoce, Muharrem Mahmutaj.
L'arresto di Ceku, attuale comandante del Tmk, ha scatenato
manifestazioni di protesta a Pristina, capoluogo del Kosovo. Contro
Ceku pende un ordine d'arresto delle autorita' di Belgrado, che ne
hanno chiesto l'estradizione.
Centinaia di albanesi del Kosovo si sono riuniti ieri nella piazza
principale di Pristina per chiedere la liberazione dell'ex comandante
militare dell'Uck, arrestato all'aeroporto di Lubiana.
''L'arresto di Ceku e' un attacco al cuore del nostro nuovo Paese e
alle istituzioni democratiche'', ha detto alla Reuters Dardan Islami,
uno degli organizzatori della manifestazione.
Ieri a Belgrado, avuta notizia dell'arresto, il ministro della
giustizia serbo Vladan Batic aveva chiesto al collega incaricato dei
diritti umani e delle minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per
l'estradizione di criminali di guerra - di contattare urgentemente le
autorita' slovene per richiedere il trasferimento di Ceku.
Batic ha accusato l'ex capo dell'Uck di ''genocidio nei confronti del
popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro di lui un tribunale di Nis (Serbia
del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un mandato di cattura
internazionale.
''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto
Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se non ci saranno pressioni da parte di
potentati, dovra' essere estradato''.
Il rilascio di Ceku era stato invece subito chiesto dalla Missione
delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo (Unmik). Una sua portavoce aveva detto
che l'Unmik era ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenerlo ''il piu'
presto possibile'', e che lo sforzo diplomatico a tal fine era
''massimo''.
La portavoce ha sottolineato che il Tmk e' un organismo costituito
dall'Unmik ed e' percio' naturale l'imegno dell' Unmik per ottenere la
liberazione del suo comandante. (ANSA). COR-DIG 23-OTT-03 02:42
NNNN 23/10/2003 12:35
=== ENGLISH ===
UN COMMENTO DI NEBOJSA MALIC
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m103003.html
Balkan Express
Antiwar.com
October 30, 2003
The Untouchables
Terrorists Under Imperial Protection
by Nebojsa Malic
Last Wednesday, former KLA commander Agim Ceku was arrested
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=5&u=/nm/
20031023/wl_nm/serbiamontenegro_kosovo_dc] in Slovenia on an Interpol
warrant forwarded by Serbia. The following morning, after the
intervention of Kosovo's UN viceroy Harri Holkeri, fierce protests in
Pristina, and even (reportedly) threats of terrorism against Slovenia,
he was released.
According to agency reports cited by Reality Macedonia
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2807],
Holkeri told the Slovenians, and then the Albanian-run Kosovo TV, that
"Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the citizens [sic]
of Kosovo." The Albanian-dominated "Kosovo Parliament" proclaimed on
the same day that "all arrest warrants and court rulings issued by
Serbian institutions" were null and void. Though this far exceeded
their authority, they faced no censure from the UN.
The beaming Ceku was greeted by a jubilant crowd at the Pristina
airport, where he declared that the "whole world should see that Serbia
has no authority in Kosovo."
Not only have Holkeri and Ceku thus declared their utter contempt for
international law, but this affair exposed as hypocritical and
licentious the renewed baying of the Hague Inquisition for more Serb
heads, and proved that despite recent propaganda, Imperial policies in
the Balkans have not changed one bit.
Yanking DOS's Leash
Ceku's arrest and triumphant release were all the more aggravating
coming at the heels of a shocking announcement on the 21st that the
Hague Inquisition has indicted four
[http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2003/10/21/
belgrade_angry_as_hague_indicts_key_serb_figures/] top Serbian military
and police officials – two former, two current –
for partaking in the fictitious "joint criminal
enterprise" in Kosovo. The indictments
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3208878.stm%5d of General Pavkovic and
former police chief Vlastimir Djordjevic did not irritate the Dossie
camarilla that much, since both were close to the deposed president
Milosevic; Pavkovic was arrested
[http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200304_421_1_eng.txt]
this spring on spurious charges, and Djordjevic has disappeared. What
really stuck in their craw was the inclusion of current top cop Sreten
Lukic and General Lazarevic, who had successfully resisted NATO and KLA
attacks and enjoys great respect in the military.
While the Dossies have no problem delivering as many heads as the
Inquisitors may require, they did object to the announcement's timing,
even before the Ceku affair. The Dossie government is currently in the
midst of a messy collapse, with parliamentary filibusters, rampant
electoral fraud and even calls for a coup d'etat
[http://www.serbianna.com/news/story/051.htm%5d; the last thing they
needed was the ICTY yanking their leash.
Also Prime Minister Zivkovic thought he had made a deal
[http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle
=10865] with the Inquisition to deliver Bosnian Serb general Ratko
Mladic, in exchange for no further indictments. This was vehemently
denied by Hague mouthpieces. Meanwhile, futile Mladic hunt
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bq/Qwarcrimes-serbia-
mladic.RvQl_DON.html] was merely seized upon as "proof" he had been in
Serbia all along.
Dossie incompetence, stupidity and servility are a topic for some other
time. Suffice to say that the recent joke finally explained the
quisling coalition's name. Originally the "Democratic Opposition of
Serbia," it remained unchanged for the past three years of their rule.
Critics point out that they need not change the
acronym, or even the name, only the preposition: they ought to be known
as the Democratic Opposition to Serbia.
Protecting the KLA
The real issue here is that the Inquisition continues to insist on
collective guilt of the entire Serbian government for an alleged
conspiracy they have consistently and spectacularly failed to prove –
yet the KLA leaders like Ceku are bailed out by Imperial authorities in
violation of perfectly valid international warrants.
This is not the first time something like this happened. In July,
KLA leader Hashim Taqi was arrested
[http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/jul03/hed5873.shtml%5d by the
Hungarian authorities, also on a Serbian arrest warrant dating back
from 1999. Kosovo's viceroy at the time, Michael Steiner, secured
Taqi's release then by calling up not only Budapest, but also Belgrade.
And the very same Dossies who fume
[http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-10/27/331644.html%5d at
"catch-and-release" in Ceku's case had agreed to trample their arrest
warrant for Taqi just four months ago, as a way of cozying up to UNMIK
and NATO (and the real edifice behind both, the Empire).
This time Steiner's successor didn't even bother calling Belgrade,
either knowing the pathetic excuse for a government there will submit
if threatened, or trying to show their opinion was irrelevant; given
his TV statement, probably the latter.
Carla DelPonte can thus tell Serbia
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/be/Qwarcrimes-bosnia-serbia.R-
ZJ_DOO.html] it should "abandon hopes" it would be "allowed" to try
high-ranking government officials; only her Inquisition is properly
equipped to handle the exquisite pressures of putting on show trials.
Or perhaps also the UNMIK "judiciary" in Kosovo, which can on rare
occasions dare to brave Albanian rage and indict
some KLA
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ai/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RmcR_DOS.html%5d
for crimes against other Albanians
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#1%5d, and try to reach a
verdict before all the witnesses
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dm/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RNHh_DON.html%5d
are brutally murdered or intimidated into silence.
The ICTY's occasional mumbling about indicting senior KLA figures have
been no more than a cover for its dedicated persecution of Serbs. When
it does accuse non-Serbs, it does so only for the sake of feigning
impartiality. For years, the ICTY denied there was an investigation of
Alija Izetbegovic, based on mountains of evidence gullible Serb
governments had sent to The Hague, only to announce
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&ncid=732&e=10&u=/
ap/20031023/ap_on_re_eu/war_crimes_izetbegovic] – on the day of
Izetbegovic's funeral – that there had been an investigation, but it
obviously had to be stopped now. How very convenient.
There is no point in arguing that the ICTY is "biased." It is an
illegal [http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/cavoski/c-3.htm%5d,
illegitimate, arbitrary and tyrannical pseudo-institution,
not a court at all.
But while such a monstrosity besieges Serbia by demands
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21859-2003Oct26.html%5d
to trash its judiciary – admittedly, DOS has done it already for its
own purposes – and deliver more sacrifices at the altar of Imperial
Justice, it treats the KLA to the ultimate "Get out of jail free" pass,
with UNMIK's help.
Support for Destruction
Needless to say, this sort of support only emboldens the KLA-led
efforts to ethnically cleanse Kosovo and eradicate all non-Albanian
presence in the province. For example, a War Street Journal
[http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110004180] editor recently
upbraided the Serbian Orthodox Church for objecting to the wholesale
destruction of its heritage, urging the Serbs to
"arrive at a modern way of living with reality."
That such complete drivel
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2796] is
printed in the leading neo-Jacobin
[http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts11.html%5d paper goes a long
way to smash the argument that Bushites are in some way different from
their predecessors when it comes to Balkans policies.
Some Albanian Catholic clergy go even further, claiming
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim23oct03.html%5d that Serb Orthodox shrines
are really Albanian Catholic churches, converted in the late 19th
century at the start of "Serbian occupation"! Such claims have no
relationship to the truth whatsoever, but did UNMIK condemn them? Or
the Vatican? No.
Empire Held Hostage?
Feeling immune from criticism, the KLA act with impunity not only
against the Serbs – attacks on whom no one in the West regards as a
particular outrage any more – but against the KFOR troops as well. Just
this Saturday, a patrol was mobbed
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim28oct03.html#3%5d in a village near Srbica,
when they parked close to the home of the Jashari
clan, the reputed founders of the KLA.
The Jasharis [http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#3%5d claimed the
soldiers were drunk and disorderly, so they had to attack them with
axes. KFOR disagreed. Since the house from which the attackers came was
the home of the regional "Kosovo Protection Corps" commander, Bashkim
Jashari, the KFOR brigade commander in the area requested a meeting
with the KPC's leader, the aforementioned Agim Ceku. Yet Ceku never
came to the meeting, showing the KFOR general he thought as much of him
as he did of international law. Needless to say, Ceku was in no way
censured by his nominal employer, the UNMIK.
The incident near Srbica shows an ominous undertone to the KLA's
relationship with the NATO occupiers, whom they had thanked profusely
over the past four years for enabling them to seize and claim Kosovo as
their own. Ever since UNMIK insisted they meet Belgrade representatives
in Vienna earlier this month, the Albanians have not hidden their
displeasure [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/deliso92.html%5d with the
"liberators" they no longer feel they need.
Do KFOR and UNMIK live in fear the KLA would go all Fallujah
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/weekly/newsnat-28oct2003-69.htm%5d on
them, and turn their "protectors" into mincemeat? That question has
been hanging in the air ever since some troops got in the way
[http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/whyisthe.htm%5d of KLA-sponsored
mobs charging Serb-inhabited Kosovska Mitrovica in 2000. It has never
been answered directly, but given UNMIK and KFOR's extreme sensitivity
to any perceived Albanian discontent, the conclusion is obvious: the
"liberators" are in large measure hostages of the terrorist cabal on
whose behalf they "liberated" a piece of someone else's territory in
flagrant breach of international law and the Nuremberg principles
[http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/directory/52199a.html%5d. They are
also hostages to their commitment to the inexcusable and morally
corrupt venture this occupation represents.
Force, Law and Justice
Holkeri's declaration about Serbian sovereignty – or lack thereof – in
occupied Kosovo was a flagrant violation of his mandate and the UN
Security Council Resolution 1244. But it is worth recalling that UNSCR
1244 was but a fig leaf for NATO's undisputedly illegal invasion and
occupation. Serbia's right to Kosovo is merely reaffirmed in 1244, it
does not derive from it. Under the 1913 Treaty of London
[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos145.htm%5d,
the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the post-1945 boundary
agreements, and even the outrageous 1991 ruling by the self-appointed
Badinter Commission declaring artificial Yugoslav republics to be
sovereign states, Kosovo is a part of Serbia. KLA's terror, NATO's
bombs and UN viceroys' pompous proclamations cannot alter the letter of
international law, only ignore it. Force only solves the issue of
power, not right
[http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=232]. And that only
until one power is replaced by another.
That's something the champions of force and destroyers of law ought to
keep in mind.
Nebojsa Malic
---
LA SLOVENIA ARRESTA CEKU
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3204695.stm
BBC News, October 22, 2003
Slovenia arrests Kosovo rebel leader
Police in Slovenia have detained the former commander
of Albanian rebels in Kosovo on the basis of a Serbian
arrest warrant.
Agim Ceku commanded the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
when it was fighting for independence from Serbia and
now leads a civil emergency force there, the Kosovo
Protection Corps (KPC).
He was detained at Ljubljana airport while travelling
between Kosovo and Croatia.
A spokeswoman for the international war crimes
tribunal in The Hague told the BBC that Mr Ceku had
not been indicted by the court.
However, the Slovene authorities said he was being
held on the basis of a Serbian arrest warrant
delivered via Interpol.
Details of the charges contained in the warrant have
not been released.
Another former rebel leader in Kosovo, Hashim Thaci,
who is now a politician, was briefly detained in
Hungary nearly four months ago on the basis of another
warrant issued by Serbia.
The KLA has been blamed for war crimes by the Serbian
authorities.
'Old warrant'
Mr Ceku told news agencies by telephone that he was
being kept in a small room and guarded by two police
officers.
"I was told I am wanted by the Serb government, which
has issued an arrest warrant," he told The Associated
Press.
"They told me they can't release me without consulting
the [Slovene] authorities."
A source at the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik), which
has been governing the mainly Albanian province since
Serbia withdrew in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign,
said it seemed that Mr Ceku had been arrested on the
basis of an "old" warrant.
"Unmik is working to resolve this problem with the
Slovenian authorities," the source told Reuters news
agency.
The 3,000-strong KPC which Mr Ceku now leads is
closely supervised by both Unmik and the Nato-led
peacekeeping force, K-for.
---
IL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE HOLKERI INTERVIENE
E FA LIBERARE IL CRIMINALE
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25184&style=headlines
Beta/B92, October 23, 2003
Holkeri pulls rank on Interpol
LJUBLJANA, PRISTINA -- Thursday – UN diplomat Harri
Holkeri has interceded with Slovenian police to secure
the release of a former Kosovo Liberation Army
commander arrested yesterday.
Agim Ceku now commands the Kosovo Protection Corps,
the civil defence organisation seen by many as little
more than a renamed Kosovo Liberation Army.
He was arrested on an Interpol warrant issued this
year on suspicion of genocide.
In a conversation with the Slovenian interior
minister, Holkeri, who heads the UN mission in Kosovo,
claimed that his mission has sole jurisdiction over
such cases and that the warrant issued by the Serbian
authorities is invalid.
Thousands of Kosovo Albanians gathered in central
Pristina last night to greet the news of Ceku’s
release.
He told TV Kosovo that the release demonstrated that
Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the
citizens of Kosovo.
“The Kosovo institutions and the United Nations
mission are responsible for us now and thanks to them
I have been released and will return to Pristina at
3.00 p.m.,” he added.
---
"TUTTO IL MONDO PUO' VEDERE CHE LA SERBIA
NON HA PIU' NESSUNA GIURISDIZIONE SUL KOSOVO"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25194&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 23, 2003
Kosovo rejects all Serbian arrest warrants
PRISTINA -- Thursday – Parliament in Kosovo has
adopted a decree declaring null and void all arrest
warrants and court rulings issued by Serbian
institutions against the province’s citizens.
The move comes after the arrest and later release of
former rebel leader Agim Ceku, who was detained in
Slovenia on an arrest warrant issued in Belgrade.
The decree, which was opposed by the parliament’s Serb
deputies, demanded that all international institutions
in Kosovo, including Interpol and Europol “refuse to
recognise” warrants issued by the Serbian authorities
against Kosovo citizens. Kosovo, it says, “comes under
the jurisdiction of the United Nations and has its own
democratic institutions”.
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Whole%20world%20should%20see%20that%20Serbia%20has%20no%20auth
ority%20in%20Kosovo,%20Ceku
Tanjug, October 23, 2003
Whole world should see that Serbia has no authority in
Kosovo, Ceku
17:19 PRISTINA , Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Several thousand
people welcomed Kosovo Protection Corps Commander Agim
Ceku at Pristina Airport at about 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on
Thursday.
Ceku was released from detention in Kranj late on
Wednesday, following his arrest in Ljubljana and
interventions aimed at securing his release earlier in
the day.
---
BELGRADO CHIEDE ALL'ONU UNA INDAGINE SU CEKU
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25221&style=headlines
SRNA, October 25, 2003
Belgrade asks UN to investigate Ceku
BELGRADE -- Friday – Belgrade’s Coordination Centre
for Kosovo has asked the province’s United Nations
mission to launch an urgent investigation against
Kosovo Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku after
mission chief Harri Holkeri secured his release
yesterday from police custody in Slovenia.
The Centre said it was acting on Holkeri’s claim that
crimes committed in Kosovo fall solely within the
jurisdiction of the UN mission’s judicial bodies.
Ceku, a former rebel leader, was arrested in Slovenia
on Wednesday on a warrant issued in Belgrade. He was
later released after Holkeri intervened.
A statement from the Coordination Centre, which is led
by Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, asked
the Serbian Justice Ministry to send all material on
Ceku to Holkeri.
---
INTIMIDAZIONI ALLA SLOVENIA DALLA LOBBY COMMERCIALE ALBANO-KOSOVARA
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25216&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 25, 2003
Kosovars threaten Slovenia over arrest
PRISTINA -- Friday – A group of Kosovo businessmen
today warned that trade with Slovenia will suffer
because of last week’s arrest in Ljubljana of Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku.
A letter signed by the representatives of fourteen
Kosovo companies which trade with Slovenia warned that
the arrest had imperilled the trade relationship,
particularly as Kosovo imported Slovenian goods in an
attempt to avoid Serbian products.
The companies warned that trade would be imperilled
“...now that we know that Slovenia is a place where
Serbia’s orders to arrest prominent Kosovo officials
is implemented”.
Kosovo media write today that Slovenian imports were
worth seventy million euros last year.
---
"UN MANDATO INTERPOL VALE PER SOLO ALCUNI,
PER ALTRI NON VALE"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25205&order=priority&style=headlines
B92, October 23, 2003
Covic: “Should we be punished for the next 100 years?”
BELGRADE -- Thursday – The head of Belgrade’s
Coordination Centre for Kosovo has complained of
double standards after the release of former rebel
leader Agim Ceku.
Ceku was arrested yesterday in Slovenia on an
indictment issued in Belgrade. He was released today
after the United Nations governor in Kosovo
intervened, insisting the mission had sole
jurisdiction over such matters.
“An Interpol indictment applies to some, but not
others”, Nebojsa Covic claimed today. “Are we a state
or are we not a state?” the deputy prime minister
asked. “Are we relevant as people or should we be
punished for the next 100 years?”
---
LETTERA APERTA AL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
10/27/331644.html
Batic addresses an open letter to Holkeri
Belgrade, Oct 27, 2003 - Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic
addressed an open letter to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, suggesting that
Agim Ceku be immediately dismissed from the position of the head of the
Kosovo Protection Corpus (KPC), that Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush
Haradinai be forbidden to leave Kosovo until documentation submitted by
Serbian judiciary organs has been examined, and that the
above-mentioned individuals be handed over to Serbia or tried before
the judicial organs of Kosovo.
Challenging the statements Holkeri made in a letter to Slovene
authorities on the occasion of the recent arrest of Agim Ceku in
Ljubljana, Batic said that the ignoring of the Serbian legal system
must not be a position of the UN civil administrator, reminding Mr.
Holkeri that the Serbian Justice Ministry has so far addressed former
UNMIK head Michael Steiner and head of UNMIK's justice department Clint
Williamson three times, requesting that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai be
handed over to Serbia's authorities.
Batic stressed that the Serbian Ministry of Justice also forwarded to
the UNMIK the decisions of the Pristina District Court on the launching
of investigation against Ceku and Thaci for the criminal act of
genocide. The Ministry also sent a valid verdict of the same court
dating from July 1997, sentencing Thaci to ten years of prison for
terrorism, together with a decision of the Pec District Court against
Ramush Haradinai for a criminal act of terrorism.
Batic said that the Ministry submitted these documents to the UNMIK at
its own will, together with a notification that local and Interpol
arrest warrants were issued against the above-mentioned individuals.
However, after Thaci's arrest by Hungarian authorities and Ceku's
arrest in Slovenia, Steiner and Holkeri exerted pressure on the
authorities of these countries to release them, instead of handing them
over to Serbian judiciary organs.
Batic reminded Holkeri in the letter that Ceku took part in the killing
of several dozens of Serbian civilians in Madacki dzep in Croatia while
he was an officer in the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Before he was
appointed head of the KPC, Ceku was the commander of the terrorist
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
The Serbian Minister highlighted that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai are
leaders of terrorists who, following the establishment of the KPC, have
carried out more than 7,000 terrorist attacks, killing more than 1,200
people, wounding 1,350, kidnapping 1,500, expelling 340,000, burning
and taking away 107,000 houses and pulling down hundreds of churches
and monasteries.
Minister Batic reminded Holkeri that these, and many other pieces of
evidence have been submitted to the Hague tribunal which is
investigating crimes of ethnic Albanians against Serbs in Kosovo, and
stressed that the Ministry is willing to offer UNMIK additional proof
against Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai.
---
DUE PESI E DUE MISURE:
E' LA REGOLA, NON PIU' L'ECCEZIONE
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
International community continues practicing double
standards
17:03 BELGRADE , Oct 28 (Tanjug) - Kosovo-Metohija
Coordinating Center judiciary department head, lawyer
Vladimir Bozovic said on Tuesday that the
international community was continuing its practice of
double standards in connection with crimes against
Serbs.
"I have sent a letter to UNMIK Judiciary Department
Director Paul Coffey and UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri's
deputy Jean-Christen Caddie, in charge of the
judiciary and police, demanding the immediate opening
of investigation proceedings against Kosovo Protection
Corps (KZK) commander Agim Ceku, on the grounds of
documents presented by the justice minister to UNMIK
on several occasions," Bozovic told a press conference
at the Federation Palace.
---
IPOCRISIA ASSOLUTA: "NON C'ERANO RICHIESTE DI ESTRADIZIONE"
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
UNMIK spokesperson says there were no extradition
demands
10:17 PRAGUE , Oct 29 (Tanjug) - The UNMIK judiciary
department on Tuesday rejected reports that the
Serbian authorities had sent a document to UNMIK,
demanding the extraditions of Democratic Party of
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, Alliance for the Future
of Kosovo President Ramush Haradinai, and Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku, to face trials
in Serbia proper.
A spokesperson for this department said UNMIK last
received a letter from the Serbian authorities in
February, Radio Free Europe has reported.
---
LINKS
Agim Ceku Arrested On Interpol Warrant
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Ceku%20arrested%20under%20Interpol%20warrant,%20Slovenian%20po
lice%20spokesman
War Criminal Agim Ceku Arrested In Slovenia On Serbian
Warrant
-http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25173&style=headlines
Kosovo Warlord Wanted In Serbia, Freed In Slovenia
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23627572.htm
Perish The Thought: Hague Inquisition Denies It Issued
Warrant For Ceku
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ah/Qwarcrimes-kosovo.RpuG_DOM.html
Dopo Hasim Thaci (*) anche Agim Ceku - responsabile delle stragi in
Slavonia come ufficiale croato prima ancora che in Kosovo-Metohija come
terrorista dell'UCK - e' stato arrestato e liberato a velocita' record.
Ceku e' stato immediatamente rilasciato in seguito all'intervento
diretto dell'UNMIK, organizzazione evidentemente dedita alla protezione
dei criminali di guerra alleati della NATO oltreche' alla copertura del
genocidio delle nazionalita' non albanesi, in atto in Kosovo-Metohija.
(a cura di I. Slavo)
(*) vedi:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2622
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2642
=== ITALIANO ===
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/kosovo/kosovo.shtml
KOSOVO: FERMATO IN SLOVENIA EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - L'ex capo militare dell'Esercito di
liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) Agim Ceku e' stato fermato oggi
all'aeroporto della citta' di Lubiana: lo riferisce l'agenzia di
stampa kosova online Kosovapress. Secondo la fonte Ceku, che e'
attualmente comandante generale del corpo di protezione del Kosovo
(Tmk), e' colpito da un vecchio ordine di arresto delle autorita' di
Belgrado.(ANSA). BLL
22/10/2003 15:27
KOSOVO: FERMO CEKU, BELGRADO CHIEDE ESTRADIZIONE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 22 OTT - Il ministro della giustizia serbo Vladan
Batic ha chiesto al collega incaricato dei diritti umani e delle
minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per l'estradizione di criminali di
guerra - di contattare urgentemente le autorita' slovene perche' venga
estradato in Serbia Agim Ceku, comandante del Corpo di protezione del
Kosovo ed ex alto esponente del disciolto Esercito di liberazione
kosovaro (Uck). Batic ha accusato Ceku di ''genocidio nei confronti
del popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro l'esponente kosovaro albanese,
un tribunale di Nis (Serbia del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un
mandato di cattura internazionale. ''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro
dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se
non ci saranno pressioni da parte di potentati, dovra' essere
estradato''. Il ministro ha espresso ''la speranza che non si ripeta
quanto e' accaduto a Budapest'', quando venne fermato per un controllo
il leader kosovaro albanese Hasim Taqi, contro il quale Belgrado aveva
emesso un ordine di cattura. Taqi venne liberato dopo alcune ore,
nonostante le richieste di estradizione di Belgrado. (ANSA).
OT 22/10/2003 17:27
KOSOVO: ARRESTO CEKU, UNMIK IMPEGNATA PER LIBERAZIONE
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - La missione delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo
(Unmik) e' ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenere la liberazione 'il
piu' presto possibile'' di Agim Ceku, il comandante generale del
Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk) fermato oggi all'aeroporto di
Lubiana perche' colpito da ordine di cattura internazionale emesso
dalle autorita' serbe. Una portavoce dell'Umnik ha detto all'Ansa che
lo sforzo diplomatico per giungere ad una rapida scarcerazione del
generale Ceku ''e' massimo''. La portavoce sottolinea che il Tmk
e' un organismo costituito dalla missione delle Nazioni Unite ed e'
percio' naturale che oggi l'Unmik si adoperi per la liberazione del
suo comandante. La portavoce ha aggiunto di non essere in grado di
precisare a quando risalga l'ordine di cattura che ha colpito Ceku
ne' quali possano essere i tempi del suo ritorno in liberta': ''Per
noi la parola d'ordine - ha concluso - e' il piu' presto possibile''.
BLL/IMP 22/10/2003 18:14
KOSOVO: SLOVENIA; RILASCIATO AGIM CEKU, EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 23 OTT - Agim Ceku, l'ex capo militare
dell'Esercito di liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) fermato ieri dalla
polizia slovena, e' stato rilasciato in nottata a Lubiana. Lo ha
annunciato un portavoce del Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk), la
forza civile succeduta all'Uck.
''Il generale Ceku e' stato rilasciato intorno alle 1:15. Abbiamo
parlato con lui per telefono, sta molto bene'', ha detto all'agenzia
Reuters il portavoce, Muharrem Mahmutaj.
L'arresto di Ceku, attuale comandante del Tmk, ha scatenato
manifestazioni di protesta a Pristina, capoluogo del Kosovo. Contro
Ceku pende un ordine d'arresto delle autorita' di Belgrado, che ne
hanno chiesto l'estradizione.
Centinaia di albanesi del Kosovo si sono riuniti ieri nella piazza
principale di Pristina per chiedere la liberazione dell'ex comandante
militare dell'Uck, arrestato all'aeroporto di Lubiana.
''L'arresto di Ceku e' un attacco al cuore del nostro nuovo Paese e
alle istituzioni democratiche'', ha detto alla Reuters Dardan Islami,
uno degli organizzatori della manifestazione.
Ieri a Belgrado, avuta notizia dell'arresto, il ministro della
giustizia serbo Vladan Batic aveva chiesto al collega incaricato dei
diritti umani e delle minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per
l'estradizione di criminali di guerra - di contattare urgentemente le
autorita' slovene per richiedere il trasferimento di Ceku.
Batic ha accusato l'ex capo dell'Uck di ''genocidio nei confronti del
popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro di lui un tribunale di Nis (Serbia
del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un mandato di cattura
internazionale.
''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto
Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se non ci saranno pressioni da parte di
potentati, dovra' essere estradato''.
Il rilascio di Ceku era stato invece subito chiesto dalla Missione
delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo (Unmik). Una sua portavoce aveva detto
che l'Unmik era ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenerlo ''il piu'
presto possibile'', e che lo sforzo diplomatico a tal fine era
''massimo''.
La portavoce ha sottolineato che il Tmk e' un organismo costituito
dall'Unmik ed e' percio' naturale l'imegno dell' Unmik per ottenere la
liberazione del suo comandante. (ANSA). COR-DIG 23-OTT-03 02:42
NNNN 23/10/2003 12:35
=== ENGLISH ===
UN COMMENTO DI NEBOJSA MALIC
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m103003.html
Balkan Express
Antiwar.com
October 30, 2003
The Untouchables
Terrorists Under Imperial Protection
by Nebojsa Malic
Last Wednesday, former KLA commander Agim Ceku was arrested
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=5&u=/nm/
20031023/wl_nm/serbiamontenegro_kosovo_dc] in Slovenia on an Interpol
warrant forwarded by Serbia. The following morning, after the
intervention of Kosovo's UN viceroy Harri Holkeri, fierce protests in
Pristina, and even (reportedly) threats of terrorism against Slovenia,
he was released.
According to agency reports cited by Reality Macedonia
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2807],
Holkeri told the Slovenians, and then the Albanian-run Kosovo TV, that
"Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the citizens [sic]
of Kosovo." The Albanian-dominated "Kosovo Parliament" proclaimed on
the same day that "all arrest warrants and court rulings issued by
Serbian institutions" were null and void. Though this far exceeded
their authority, they faced no censure from the UN.
The beaming Ceku was greeted by a jubilant crowd at the Pristina
airport, where he declared that the "whole world should see that Serbia
has no authority in Kosovo."
Not only have Holkeri and Ceku thus declared their utter contempt for
international law, but this affair exposed as hypocritical and
licentious the renewed baying of the Hague Inquisition for more Serb
heads, and proved that despite recent propaganda, Imperial policies in
the Balkans have not changed one bit.
Yanking DOS's Leash
Ceku's arrest and triumphant release were all the more aggravating
coming at the heels of a shocking announcement on the 21st that the
Hague Inquisition has indicted four
[http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2003/10/21/
belgrade_angry_as_hague_indicts_key_serb_figures/] top Serbian military
and police officials – two former, two current –
for partaking in the fictitious "joint criminal
enterprise" in Kosovo. The indictments
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3208878.stm%5d of General Pavkovic and
former police chief Vlastimir Djordjevic did not irritate the Dossie
camarilla that much, since both were close to the deposed president
Milosevic; Pavkovic was arrested
[http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200304_421_1_eng.txt]
this spring on spurious charges, and Djordjevic has disappeared. What
really stuck in their craw was the inclusion of current top cop Sreten
Lukic and General Lazarevic, who had successfully resisted NATO and KLA
attacks and enjoys great respect in the military.
While the Dossies have no problem delivering as many heads as the
Inquisitors may require, they did object to the announcement's timing,
even before the Ceku affair. The Dossie government is currently in the
midst of a messy collapse, with parliamentary filibusters, rampant
electoral fraud and even calls for a coup d'etat
[http://www.serbianna.com/news/story/051.htm%5d; the last thing they
needed was the ICTY yanking their leash.
Also Prime Minister Zivkovic thought he had made a deal
[http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle
=10865] with the Inquisition to deliver Bosnian Serb general Ratko
Mladic, in exchange for no further indictments. This was vehemently
denied by Hague mouthpieces. Meanwhile, futile Mladic hunt
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bq/Qwarcrimes-serbia-
mladic.RvQl_DON.html] was merely seized upon as "proof" he had been in
Serbia all along.
Dossie incompetence, stupidity and servility are a topic for some other
time. Suffice to say that the recent joke finally explained the
quisling coalition's name. Originally the "Democratic Opposition of
Serbia," it remained unchanged for the past three years of their rule.
Critics point out that they need not change the
acronym, or even the name, only the preposition: they ought to be known
as the Democratic Opposition to Serbia.
Protecting the KLA
The real issue here is that the Inquisition continues to insist on
collective guilt of the entire Serbian government for an alleged
conspiracy they have consistently and spectacularly failed to prove –
yet the KLA leaders like Ceku are bailed out by Imperial authorities in
violation of perfectly valid international warrants.
This is not the first time something like this happened. In July,
KLA leader Hashim Taqi was arrested
[http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/jul03/hed5873.shtml%5d by the
Hungarian authorities, also on a Serbian arrest warrant dating back
from 1999. Kosovo's viceroy at the time, Michael Steiner, secured
Taqi's release then by calling up not only Budapest, but also Belgrade.
And the very same Dossies who fume
[http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-10/27/331644.html%5d at
"catch-and-release" in Ceku's case had agreed to trample their arrest
warrant for Taqi just four months ago, as a way of cozying up to UNMIK
and NATO (and the real edifice behind both, the Empire).
This time Steiner's successor didn't even bother calling Belgrade,
either knowing the pathetic excuse for a government there will submit
if threatened, or trying to show their opinion was irrelevant; given
his TV statement, probably the latter.
Carla DelPonte can thus tell Serbia
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/be/Qwarcrimes-bosnia-serbia.R-
ZJ_DOO.html] it should "abandon hopes" it would be "allowed" to try
high-ranking government officials; only her Inquisition is properly
equipped to handle the exquisite pressures of putting on show trials.
Or perhaps also the UNMIK "judiciary" in Kosovo, which can on rare
occasions dare to brave Albanian rage and indict
some KLA
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ai/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RmcR_DOS.html%5d
for crimes against other Albanians
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#1%5d, and try to reach a
verdict before all the witnesses
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dm/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RNHh_DON.html%5d
are brutally murdered or intimidated into silence.
The ICTY's occasional mumbling about indicting senior KLA figures have
been no more than a cover for its dedicated persecution of Serbs. When
it does accuse non-Serbs, it does so only for the sake of feigning
impartiality. For years, the ICTY denied there was an investigation of
Alija Izetbegovic, based on mountains of evidence gullible Serb
governments had sent to The Hague, only to announce
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&ncid=732&e=10&u=/
ap/20031023/ap_on_re_eu/war_crimes_izetbegovic] – on the day of
Izetbegovic's funeral – that there had been an investigation, but it
obviously had to be stopped now. How very convenient.
There is no point in arguing that the ICTY is "biased." It is an
illegal [http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/cavoski/c-3.htm%5d,
illegitimate, arbitrary and tyrannical pseudo-institution,
not a court at all.
But while such a monstrosity besieges Serbia by demands
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21859-2003Oct26.html%5d
to trash its judiciary – admittedly, DOS has done it already for its
own purposes – and deliver more sacrifices at the altar of Imperial
Justice, it treats the KLA to the ultimate "Get out of jail free" pass,
with UNMIK's help.
Support for Destruction
Needless to say, this sort of support only emboldens the KLA-led
efforts to ethnically cleanse Kosovo and eradicate all non-Albanian
presence in the province. For example, a War Street Journal
[http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110004180] editor recently
upbraided the Serbian Orthodox Church for objecting to the wholesale
destruction of its heritage, urging the Serbs to
"arrive at a modern way of living with reality."
That such complete drivel
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2796] is
printed in the leading neo-Jacobin
[http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts11.html%5d paper goes a long
way to smash the argument that Bushites are in some way different from
their predecessors when it comes to Balkans policies.
Some Albanian Catholic clergy go even further, claiming
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim23oct03.html%5d that Serb Orthodox shrines
are really Albanian Catholic churches, converted in the late 19th
century at the start of "Serbian occupation"! Such claims have no
relationship to the truth whatsoever, but did UNMIK condemn them? Or
the Vatican? No.
Empire Held Hostage?
Feeling immune from criticism, the KLA act with impunity not only
against the Serbs – attacks on whom no one in the West regards as a
particular outrage any more – but against the KFOR troops as well. Just
this Saturday, a patrol was mobbed
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim28oct03.html#3%5d in a village near Srbica,
when they parked close to the home of the Jashari
clan, the reputed founders of the KLA.
The Jasharis [http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#3%5d claimed the
soldiers were drunk and disorderly, so they had to attack them with
axes. KFOR disagreed. Since the house from which the attackers came was
the home of the regional "Kosovo Protection Corps" commander, Bashkim
Jashari, the KFOR brigade commander in the area requested a meeting
with the KPC's leader, the aforementioned Agim Ceku. Yet Ceku never
came to the meeting, showing the KFOR general he thought as much of him
as he did of international law. Needless to say, Ceku was in no way
censured by his nominal employer, the UNMIK.
The incident near Srbica shows an ominous undertone to the KLA's
relationship with the NATO occupiers, whom they had thanked profusely
over the past four years for enabling them to seize and claim Kosovo as
their own. Ever since UNMIK insisted they meet Belgrade representatives
in Vienna earlier this month, the Albanians have not hidden their
displeasure [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/deliso92.html%5d with the
"liberators" they no longer feel they need.
Do KFOR and UNMIK live in fear the KLA would go all Fallujah
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/weekly/newsnat-28oct2003-69.htm%5d on
them, and turn their "protectors" into mincemeat? That question has
been hanging in the air ever since some troops got in the way
[http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/whyisthe.htm%5d of KLA-sponsored
mobs charging Serb-inhabited Kosovska Mitrovica in 2000. It has never
been answered directly, but given UNMIK and KFOR's extreme sensitivity
to any perceived Albanian discontent, the conclusion is obvious: the
"liberators" are in large measure hostages of the terrorist cabal on
whose behalf they "liberated" a piece of someone else's territory in
flagrant breach of international law and the Nuremberg principles
[http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/directory/52199a.html%5d. They are
also hostages to their commitment to the inexcusable and morally
corrupt venture this occupation represents.
Force, Law and Justice
Holkeri's declaration about Serbian sovereignty – or lack thereof – in
occupied Kosovo was a flagrant violation of his mandate and the UN
Security Council Resolution 1244. But it is worth recalling that UNSCR
1244 was but a fig leaf for NATO's undisputedly illegal invasion and
occupation. Serbia's right to Kosovo is merely reaffirmed in 1244, it
does not derive from it. Under the 1913 Treaty of London
[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos145.htm%5d,
the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the post-1945 boundary
agreements, and even the outrageous 1991 ruling by the self-appointed
Badinter Commission declaring artificial Yugoslav republics to be
sovereign states, Kosovo is a part of Serbia. KLA's terror, NATO's
bombs and UN viceroys' pompous proclamations cannot alter the letter of
international law, only ignore it. Force only solves the issue of
power, not right
[http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=232]. And that only
until one power is replaced by another.
That's something the champions of force and destroyers of law ought to
keep in mind.
Nebojsa Malic
---
LA SLOVENIA ARRESTA CEKU
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3204695.stm
BBC News, October 22, 2003
Slovenia arrests Kosovo rebel leader
Police in Slovenia have detained the former commander
of Albanian rebels in Kosovo on the basis of a Serbian
arrest warrant.
Agim Ceku commanded the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
when it was fighting for independence from Serbia and
now leads a civil emergency force there, the Kosovo
Protection Corps (KPC).
He was detained at Ljubljana airport while travelling
between Kosovo and Croatia.
A spokeswoman for the international war crimes
tribunal in The Hague told the BBC that Mr Ceku had
not been indicted by the court.
However, the Slovene authorities said he was being
held on the basis of a Serbian arrest warrant
delivered via Interpol.
Details of the charges contained in the warrant have
not been released.
Another former rebel leader in Kosovo, Hashim Thaci,
who is now a politician, was briefly detained in
Hungary nearly four months ago on the basis of another
warrant issued by Serbia.
The KLA has been blamed for war crimes by the Serbian
authorities.
'Old warrant'
Mr Ceku told news agencies by telephone that he was
being kept in a small room and guarded by two police
officers.
"I was told I am wanted by the Serb government, which
has issued an arrest warrant," he told The Associated
Press.
"They told me they can't release me without consulting
the [Slovene] authorities."
A source at the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik), which
has been governing the mainly Albanian province since
Serbia withdrew in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign,
said it seemed that Mr Ceku had been arrested on the
basis of an "old" warrant.
"Unmik is working to resolve this problem with the
Slovenian authorities," the source told Reuters news
agency.
The 3,000-strong KPC which Mr Ceku now leads is
closely supervised by both Unmik and the Nato-led
peacekeeping force, K-for.
---
IL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE HOLKERI INTERVIENE
E FA LIBERARE IL CRIMINALE
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25184&style=headlines
Beta/B92, October 23, 2003
Holkeri pulls rank on Interpol
LJUBLJANA, PRISTINA -- Thursday – UN diplomat Harri
Holkeri has interceded with Slovenian police to secure
the release of a former Kosovo Liberation Army
commander arrested yesterday.
Agim Ceku now commands the Kosovo Protection Corps,
the civil defence organisation seen by many as little
more than a renamed Kosovo Liberation Army.
He was arrested on an Interpol warrant issued this
year on suspicion of genocide.
In a conversation with the Slovenian interior
minister, Holkeri, who heads the UN mission in Kosovo,
claimed that his mission has sole jurisdiction over
such cases and that the warrant issued by the Serbian
authorities is invalid.
Thousands of Kosovo Albanians gathered in central
Pristina last night to greet the news of Ceku’s
release.
He told TV Kosovo that the release demonstrated that
Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the
citizens of Kosovo.
“The Kosovo institutions and the United Nations
mission are responsible for us now and thanks to them
I have been released and will return to Pristina at
3.00 p.m.,” he added.
---
"TUTTO IL MONDO PUO' VEDERE CHE LA SERBIA
NON HA PIU' NESSUNA GIURISDIZIONE SUL KOSOVO"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25194&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 23, 2003
Kosovo rejects all Serbian arrest warrants
PRISTINA -- Thursday – Parliament in Kosovo has
adopted a decree declaring null and void all arrest
warrants and court rulings issued by Serbian
institutions against the province’s citizens.
The move comes after the arrest and later release of
former rebel leader Agim Ceku, who was detained in
Slovenia on an arrest warrant issued in Belgrade.
The decree, which was opposed by the parliament’s Serb
deputies, demanded that all international institutions
in Kosovo, including Interpol and Europol “refuse to
recognise” warrants issued by the Serbian authorities
against Kosovo citizens. Kosovo, it says, “comes under
the jurisdiction of the United Nations and has its own
democratic institutions”.
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Whole%20world%20should%20see%20that%20Serbia%20has%20no%20auth
ority%20in%20Kosovo,%20Ceku
Tanjug, October 23, 2003
Whole world should see that Serbia has no authority in
Kosovo, Ceku
17:19 PRISTINA , Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Several thousand
people welcomed Kosovo Protection Corps Commander Agim
Ceku at Pristina Airport at about 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on
Thursday.
Ceku was released from detention in Kranj late on
Wednesday, following his arrest in Ljubljana and
interventions aimed at securing his release earlier in
the day.
---
BELGRADO CHIEDE ALL'ONU UNA INDAGINE SU CEKU
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25221&style=headlines
SRNA, October 25, 2003
Belgrade asks UN to investigate Ceku
BELGRADE -- Friday – Belgrade’s Coordination Centre
for Kosovo has asked the province’s United Nations
mission to launch an urgent investigation against
Kosovo Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku after
mission chief Harri Holkeri secured his release
yesterday from police custody in Slovenia.
The Centre said it was acting on Holkeri’s claim that
crimes committed in Kosovo fall solely within the
jurisdiction of the UN mission’s judicial bodies.
Ceku, a former rebel leader, was arrested in Slovenia
on Wednesday on a warrant issued in Belgrade. He was
later released after Holkeri intervened.
A statement from the Coordination Centre, which is led
by Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, asked
the Serbian Justice Ministry to send all material on
Ceku to Holkeri.
---
INTIMIDAZIONI ALLA SLOVENIA DALLA LOBBY COMMERCIALE ALBANO-KOSOVARA
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25216&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 25, 2003
Kosovars threaten Slovenia over arrest
PRISTINA -- Friday – A group of Kosovo businessmen
today warned that trade with Slovenia will suffer
because of last week’s arrest in Ljubljana of Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku.
A letter signed by the representatives of fourteen
Kosovo companies which trade with Slovenia warned that
the arrest had imperilled the trade relationship,
particularly as Kosovo imported Slovenian goods in an
attempt to avoid Serbian products.
The companies warned that trade would be imperilled
“...now that we know that Slovenia is a place where
Serbia’s orders to arrest prominent Kosovo officials
is implemented”.
Kosovo media write today that Slovenian imports were
worth seventy million euros last year.
---
"UN MANDATO INTERPOL VALE PER SOLO ALCUNI,
PER ALTRI NON VALE"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25205&order=priority&style=headlines
B92, October 23, 2003
Covic: “Should we be punished for the next 100 years?”
BELGRADE -- Thursday – The head of Belgrade’s
Coordination Centre for Kosovo has complained of
double standards after the release of former rebel
leader Agim Ceku.
Ceku was arrested yesterday in Slovenia on an
indictment issued in Belgrade. He was released today
after the United Nations governor in Kosovo
intervened, insisting the mission had sole
jurisdiction over such matters.
“An Interpol indictment applies to some, but not
others”, Nebojsa Covic claimed today. “Are we a state
or are we not a state?” the deputy prime minister
asked. “Are we relevant as people or should we be
punished for the next 100 years?”
---
LETTERA APERTA AL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
10/27/331644.html
Batic addresses an open letter to Holkeri
Belgrade, Oct 27, 2003 - Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic
addressed an open letter to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, suggesting that
Agim Ceku be immediately dismissed from the position of the head of the
Kosovo Protection Corpus (KPC), that Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush
Haradinai be forbidden to leave Kosovo until documentation submitted by
Serbian judiciary organs has been examined, and that the
above-mentioned individuals be handed over to Serbia or tried before
the judicial organs of Kosovo.
Challenging the statements Holkeri made in a letter to Slovene
authorities on the occasion of the recent arrest of Agim Ceku in
Ljubljana, Batic said that the ignoring of the Serbian legal system
must not be a position of the UN civil administrator, reminding Mr.
Holkeri that the Serbian Justice Ministry has so far addressed former
UNMIK head Michael Steiner and head of UNMIK's justice department Clint
Williamson three times, requesting that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai be
handed over to Serbia's authorities.
Batic stressed that the Serbian Ministry of Justice also forwarded to
the UNMIK the decisions of the Pristina District Court on the launching
of investigation against Ceku and Thaci for the criminal act of
genocide. The Ministry also sent a valid verdict of the same court
dating from July 1997, sentencing Thaci to ten years of prison for
terrorism, together with a decision of the Pec District Court against
Ramush Haradinai for a criminal act of terrorism.
Batic said that the Ministry submitted these documents to the UNMIK at
its own will, together with a notification that local and Interpol
arrest warrants were issued against the above-mentioned individuals.
However, after Thaci's arrest by Hungarian authorities and Ceku's
arrest in Slovenia, Steiner and Holkeri exerted pressure on the
authorities of these countries to release them, instead of handing them
over to Serbian judiciary organs.
Batic reminded Holkeri in the letter that Ceku took part in the killing
of several dozens of Serbian civilians in Madacki dzep in Croatia while
he was an officer in the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Before he was
appointed head of the KPC, Ceku was the commander of the terrorist
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
The Serbian Minister highlighted that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai are
leaders of terrorists who, following the establishment of the KPC, have
carried out more than 7,000 terrorist attacks, killing more than 1,200
people, wounding 1,350, kidnapping 1,500, expelling 340,000, burning
and taking away 107,000 houses and pulling down hundreds of churches
and monasteries.
Minister Batic reminded Holkeri that these, and many other pieces of
evidence have been submitted to the Hague tribunal which is
investigating crimes of ethnic Albanians against Serbs in Kosovo, and
stressed that the Ministry is willing to offer UNMIK additional proof
against Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai.
---
DUE PESI E DUE MISURE:
E' LA REGOLA, NON PIU' L'ECCEZIONE
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
International community continues practicing double
standards
17:03 BELGRADE , Oct 28 (Tanjug) - Kosovo-Metohija
Coordinating Center judiciary department head, lawyer
Vladimir Bozovic said on Tuesday that the
international community was continuing its practice of
double standards in connection with crimes against
Serbs.
"I have sent a letter to UNMIK Judiciary Department
Director Paul Coffey and UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri's
deputy Jean-Christen Caddie, in charge of the
judiciary and police, demanding the immediate opening
of investigation proceedings against Kosovo Protection
Corps (KZK) commander Agim Ceku, on the grounds of
documents presented by the justice minister to UNMIK
on several occasions," Bozovic told a press conference
at the Federation Palace.
---
IPOCRISIA ASSOLUTA: "NON C'ERANO RICHIESTE DI ESTRADIZIONE"
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
UNMIK spokesperson says there were no extradition
demands
10:17 PRAGUE , Oct 29 (Tanjug) - The UNMIK judiciary
department on Tuesday rejected reports that the
Serbian authorities had sent a document to UNMIK,
demanding the extraditions of Democratic Party of
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, Alliance for the Future
of Kosovo President Ramush Haradinai, and Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku, to face trials
in Serbia proper.
A spokesperson for this department said UNMIK last
received a letter from the Serbian authorities in
February, Radio Free Europe has reported.
---
LINKS
Agim Ceku Arrested On Interpol Warrant
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Ceku%20arrested%20under%20Interpol%20warrant,%20Slovenian%20po
lice%20spokesman
War Criminal Agim Ceku Arrested In Slovenia On Serbian
Warrant
-http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25173&style=headlines
Kosovo Warlord Wanted In Serbia, Freed In Slovenia
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23627572.htm
Perish The Thought: Hague Inquisition Denies It Issued
Warrant For Ceku
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ah/Qwarcrimes-kosovo.RpuG_DOM.html