The questions from the trial panel to the defense witness, James Rubin, who was U.S. Assistant Secretary of State during the Kosovo War, have concluded. This is the third day Rubin has been testifying at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, where today he was also asked again whether the KLA had a military police and command structure.
During James Rubin’s testimony in the courtroom, Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi were present. All four defendants are in the courtroom.
James Rubin, whose testimony is in defense of former President Hashim Thaçi, today in court was accompanied by a representative of the United States of America.
In questions from Judge Fergal Gejnor on whether he had ever read statements issued by the KLA in the press, Rubin said he considered them more as “manipulations.”
“I have often read statements, but I have considered them more as attempts to make the KLA seem more important than it actually was; to me they were nothing other than manipulations,” Rubin declared.
At the beginning of today’s testimony, the American diplomat was asked by Judge Gejnor whether he had seen communications between the regional commanders and the general staff.
Rubin reiterated the statement that there was no structure in the KLA and that he did not consider it as a military police.“Even if I had seen such communications, especially given the presence of my colleague from the U.S., I would not have been able to communicate them.
“Even if I had seen such communications, especially given the presence of my colleague from the U.S., I would not have been able to communicate them.
Judge: Have you seen communication between battalions?
Rubin: I need to make an exception here. From what I saw, there were no battalions, brigades, or units in the KLA; I do not believe that this type of military organization existed, and from what I have seen, nothing ever led me to think that such structures existed. I may have seen things regarding the KLA that can be discussed, but I can tell you that I have not seen anything that describes battalions, brigades, units, as they should be according to the rules in divisions in the army, or in regiments that we have seen in the West, or what we consider a formal structure. To our knowledge, nothing like that existed,”
Previously, the defense witness was shown a documentary, where the judge asked Rubin whether Hashim Thaçi had faced threats.
“No, I was not aware that there had been any physical threats, but I know that there was ideological pressure for or against independence. Because that was the main focus of the movement, that was the main focus of the movement during the war. Even Madeleine Albright threatened Hashim Thaçi, she threatened him and told him ‘if you do not sign, you leave people unprotected by the Serbs,’ and of course later I heard that Mr. Adem Demaçi, who was a key person, was also threatened. And I want to add something here, yesterday you asked me many questions about Mr. Demaçi, and I did not respond to something important. He was a person with status in their movement; he was equivalent to Nelson Mandela, as he had been imprisoned for many, many years and had extraordinary moral power over the liberation movement. The threats were not physical,” he declared.
In another documentary shown by the trial panel, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright referred to Thaçi as a leader, for which Rubin said, “we wanted him to become a leading leader.”
After questions from the trial panel, the Office of the Specialist Prosecutor said that it had no further questions and the session continues with questions from Thaçi’s defense attorney, Luka Misetić.
Rubin is the first witness that the defense of former President Thaçi has brought to the courtroom. After him, ten more witnesses are expected to testify in defense of Thaçi.
Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi are accused of alleged war crimes. All have pleaded not guilty.
They have been held in pre-trial detention since November 2020, when the indictment against them was made public.
