Zakharova on Taci Verdict: Crimes Against Serbs Excluded

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova issued Moscow’s first official reaction on September 22 to the verdict handed down by the Hague Specialist Chambers against former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Sputnik Serbia carried the statement at 10:12 a.m., with B92 following at 10:58 a.m.

The Specialist Chambers sentenced four former KLA leaders to prison terms ranging from 13 to 25 years. Hashim Thaci, the former president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, received the harshest sentence, 25 years, with time already spent in detention counted toward it. He was found guilty, along with the three other defendants, of war crimes committed in 1998 and 1999, including torture and murder. According to the verdict, 96 prisoners were killed across the network of KLA detention facilities. The trial lasted six years and involved thousands of pieces of evidence and hundreds of witnesses.

The verdict landed as Pristina marked a third consecutive night of protests, a story our newsroom has already covered in “Third night of protests in Pristina over Taci verdict.” Zakharova’s statement is the first official position Moscow has taken on the ruling, while earlier domestic coverage of the story had focused solely on the reaction and the protests in Pristina.

Why Zakharova says the verdict came too late

Zakharova said the mere fact of a conviction for war crimes deserves approval, but argued the verdict came too late and raises a great many questions.

The verdict is clearly overdue and raises a great many questions. After six years of reviewing thousands of pieces of evidence and hearing hundreds of witnesses, the Specialist Chambers found neither the courage nor the sense of responsibility to apply the rigor of justice that this case so badly needed.

The spokesperson added that selectivity and the politicization of justice are unacceptable, and said justice for Serbs can only be considered satisfied on a conditional basis.

We believe that Kosovo Albanian militants must ultimately face just punishment for their horrific acts, to the full extent of the law.

According to Zakharova, the involvement of KLA leaders in crimes against humanity was deemed unproven in the verdict, while evidence of trafficking in human organs was disregarded. She also pointed out that crimes against Serbs committed after June 1999, including the March 2004 pogrom, were not covered by these proceedings. In her assessment, the verdict confirms for the Serbian people that the collective guilt attributed to them has no basis.

It is obvious that the futile attempts to cleanse the project of building a Kosovo quasi-state of its bloody legacy will continue.

Zakharova made this assessment in a statement carried by Blic, via the Naslovi.net news aggregator.

Zakharova also noted that the case will not be legally final until the appeals process concludes. As an example of how such proceedings can end, she pointed to the case of Croatian general Ante Gotovina, who was initially sentenced to 17 years in prison for crimes against Serbs in Croatia during Operation Storm, only to be acquitted on appeal.

No official response from Pristina to Zakharova’s statement had arrived as of publication. It remains an open question whether, and when, anyone from Pristina’s institutions will respond to the claim that the verdict does not cover crimes against Serbs committed after 1999.