Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin has testified that he stayed for several days in Kosovo in June 1999, where every morning he was taken into the mountains to meet with Hashim Thaçi. During his testimony at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, he said that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had told him to go to Kosovo.

James Rubin, who served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State during the Kosovo war, is the first defense witness.

His testimony is in defense of the former President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi. In court, he was accompanied by two representatives of the United States of America.

The American diplomat stated that he returned to Kosovo in June 1999 to take part in “negotiations concerning the demilitarization of the KLA.”

Before the panel of judges, he explained that it was Secretary Albright who told him to go to Kosovo, instructing him: “Stop everything you are doing.”

“I was Ms. Albright’s spokesman. I was working on issues related to China and Russia, and she told me, ‘Stop everything you’re doing and you must go to Kosovo, you need to go there in order to help Mike Jackson carry out his commitments and also make sure Hashim Thaçi signs the agreement. That’s why I went to the region,’” he said.

The former senior U.S. official testified that during that period he stayed in a hotel in Skopje and every morning he was transported into the mountains to meet with Hashim Thaçi.

“I don’t remember exactly, but perhaps three or four days. I didn’t actually stay in Kosovo, I stayed in a hotel in Skopje, Macedonia, and every morning I was taken by special means into the mountains to meet with Hashim Thaçi and the actual commanders of the KLA. So, every day they would take me there and bring me back.

Misetić: Do you remember the dates?

Rubin: It was sometime toward the end of June 1999,” he added.

Before the judges, Rubin said that Thaçi was younger in age compared to other commanders, adding: “It was clear to me that Thaçi did not have the ability or authority to make decisions for the KLA.”

“I personally met with the commanders and saw with my own eyes the relationship between them and Hashim. These commanders were the ones telling him what to do; the relationship was such that Hashim was not telling the commanders what to do, but rather the commanders were the ones instructing him,” Rubin emphasized further.

The first defense witness, whose testimony began today, also said that he had met with Agim Çeku to celebrate the transformation of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

His testimony has been allocated four hours by the defense, four hours by the Office of the Specialized Prosecutor, and three and a half hours by others.

During his testimony today, James Rubin told the court that between 1997–2000 he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and as the chief spokesman reporting directly to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

In his involvement with the Rambouillet Conference, Rubin said that he met several times with Thaçi, about whom he stated: “He was worried that he would not have the full authority or permission to sign the Rambouillet agreement.”