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WORLD NEWS Thursday 25 June 2020
Kosovo president, 9 others indicted on war crimes charges

By ZENEL ZHINIPOTOKU and been sentenced to lengthy
LLAZAR SEMINI prison terms by a differ-
Associated Press ent war crimes court in The
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Hague for crimes commit-
Kosovo President Hashim ted by Serbian troops dur-
Thaci and nine other for- ing the war.
mer separatist fighters were "The court is trying to stain
indicted Wednesday on our liberating war, our as-
a range of crimes against piration for freedom and
humanity and war crimes independence and le-
charges, including murder, galize the (Serb) crimes in
by an international pros- Kosovo,"said Bardhyl Mah-
ecutor probing their ac- muti, a former KLA political
tions against ethnic Serbs representative, to the pub-
and others during and after lic television station, RTK.
Kosovo's 1998-99 indepen- The indictment was the
dence war with Serbia. first made by the prosecu-
Because of the indictment, tor of the special tribunal
Thaci has postponed his for Kosovo based in The
trip to Washington, where Hague. The court has been
he was to meet Saturday operating since 2015 and
for talks at the White House has questioned hundreds
with Serbian President Alek- of witnesses. Kosovo's prime
sandar Vucic. minister resigned last year
"The President of Kosovo In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 file photo, Kosovo president Hashim Thaci gestures during a press before he was questioned.
has just informed us that conference in Kosovo capital Pristina. The prosecutor filed the
he has canceled his trip Associated Press indictment following a
to Washington, D.C. fol- nearly 100 murders" involv- Thaci was a commander ment speaker and leader lengthy investigation and it
lowing the announcement ing hundreds of Serb and of the so-called Kosovo Lib- of the opposition Demo- reflects his "determination
made by the Special Pros- Roma victims, as well as eration army, or KLA, that cratic Party of Kosovo. that it can prove all of the
ecutors Office. I respect his Kosovo Albanian political fought for independence Veseli said the indictment is charges beyond a reason-
decision not to attend the opponents. from Serbia. The war left politically motivated. able doubt," the statement
discussions until the legal Other charges include en- more than 10,000 dead — "Taking into account the said. The prosecutor also
issues of those allegations forced disappearance, most of them ethnic Alba- time and circumstances (of accused Thaci and Veseli
are settled," tweeted Rich- persecution and torture, he nians — and 1,641 are still the indictment), only days of repeated efforts "to ob-
ard Grenell, the U.S. envoy said. unaccounted for. It ended before the White House struct and undermine the
for the Kosovo talks. A pretrial judge at The after a 78-day NATO air meeting, one would fairly work" of the tribunal.
The talks will still go ahead, Hague-based court is cur- campaign against Serbian doubt that it was acciden- "Thaci and Veseli are be-
with Vucic and Kosovo rently studying the indict- troops. tal," Veseli said. lieved to have carried out
Prime Minister Avdullah ment and could still reject The former ethnic Alba- "Crimes in Kosovo were a secret campaign to over-
Hoti, he added. it if there is not enough nian-dominated province committed by Serbs, not turn the law creating the
A statement from the pros- evidence to back it up. If declared independence Albanians," he said, calling Court and otherwise ob-
ecutor of the Kosovo Spe- there is enough evidence from Serbia in 2008, which it an attempt to rewrite his- struct the work of the Court
cialist Chambers said Thaci to support the charges, the Serbia did not recognize. tory. in an attempt to ensure
and the nine others "are pretrial judge will confirm The indicted group includes Several top Serbian officials that they do not face jus-
criminally responsible for them. Kadri Veseli, former parlia- and military officers have tice," the statement said.q

Indonesian fishermen discover 94 Rohingya adrift at sea

By YAYAN ZAMZAMI ing on the way to shore. headed because none
Associated Press They remained on the could speak English or Ma-
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia boat Wednesday await- lay. In April, Malaysia de-
(AP) — Indonesian fisher- ing a decision by the local nied entry to a boat car-
men discovered 94 hungry, government whether to rying about 200 Rohingya
weak Rohingya Muslims on accept them. due to coronavirus fears.
a wooden boat adrift off “We are still waiting for fur- Rights activists are fearful
Indonesia’s northernmost ther instructions on what that large numbers of Ro-
province of Aceh, an offi- we should do with them,” hingya, a persecuted Mus-
cial said Wednesday. Jamil said. He said authori- lim minority from mainly
The people were found by ties provided them with Buddhist Myanmar, may
three fishermen late Mon- food and water and villag- be trapped on boats at
day on the rickety boat ers donated clothes. sea. Reports say they are
about 6 kilometers (4 miles) The 49 women, 15 men fleeing ongoing persecu-
off the coast, local police and 30 children were weak tion in Myanmar and hard- Ethnic Rohingya people sit on the deck of a boat off North
chief Muhammad Jamil from hunger and dehydra- ship in refugee camps in Aceh, Indonesia, Wednesday, June 24, 2020.
said. He said the group tion after a two-week voy- Bangladesh where many Associated Press
of Rohingya cried out for age, Jamil said. have fled. the military launched a es have been accused of
help and jumped onto the He said it wasn’t clear More than 700,000 Rohing- clearance operation in mass rapes, killings and the
fishermen’s boat, but its where the group was trav- ya have fled Myanmar response to attacks by a burning of thousands of
engine also stopped work- eling from or where it was since August 2017, when rebel group. Security forc- homes. q