Former US Secretary of State James Rubin has concluded his testimony at the Hague Special Court. For three days, he testified in defense of former KLAs, while calling for five years in custody of former President Hashim Thaci and three other defendants.
For Thaci, Rubin said he was not the main leader of the KLA and that it was clear that he had superiors from whom he received approval. “Thaci has not been any kind of main commander”He said.
Regarding the negotiations in Rambouillet, asked if Thaci had threatened Veton Surroi and Dukagjin Gorani, members of the then Kosovo delegation in Rambouillet, for their support for an agreement, Rubin said he was unaware of any physical threat. He distinguished between moral and physical pressure, stressing that the ideological pressure on the issue of independence was present.
He revealed that Madeleine Albright had pressured Thaci to accept the deal.
“Al Albright also threatened Thaci, and he said if you didn’t sign it, but leaving your people unprotected by Serbs. “stated Rubin.
Regarding the structure and activity of the KLA, Rubin said that there was no organized structure as the armies have. In his testimony, Rubin said that the KLA had more groups, clans, but not a genuine military structure.
“As far as I saw I had no battalions, brigades or KLA units, I do not believe there was an organization from a military point of view“, Said Rubin.
Regarding the KLA communications, Rubin said he had read many of them, but said they looked like an attempt to make the KLA more important than it was.
“I have often read KLA communications, but they seemed to me as an attempt to make the KLA more important than it was. For me they were simply manipulations“, Said Rubin.
Speaking about Adem Demaci, Rubin called Nelson Mandela’s equivalent, due to long years in prison and the great moral authority over the liberation movement. He stressed that Demaci’s influence was largely moral, non -physical.
Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi deny the allegations filed by the Special Prosecutor for War Crimes and Crimes against humanity committed during the 1990s.
