One of those idiots and murderers,

One of those idiots and murderers, as Kouchner would describe them, would have to be, I guess, Swiss prosecutor to the Council of Europe, Dick Marty as well, as he too talked about the ’Yellow House’. In his 2010 report, Dick Marty uncovered that Hashim Thaci, who was the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo at the time the report came out, was the head of a „mafia-like“ group responsible for smuggling weapons, drugs and human organs through Europe. As stated in the report, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, held prisoners in a network of six facilities located in Albania, and Thaci’s Drenica Group had the greatest responsibility for the prisons and the fate of those held there. The healthiest prisoners were transferred to a farmhouse near Fushe-Kruje where they were killed for their organs. Why didn’t the West react?
---> Carla del Ponte: „Because the KLA was supporting NATO during the conflict, they had some difficulties to cooperate with us against the people who help them. You know. It is political. If you are my associate in a conflict, how can you act against my associate.“
In a few cases, however, the Hague Tribunal did manage to bring an indictment against Kosovo Albanians who were accused of committing crimes. Like in the case of Ramus Haradinaj. Don’t let the glasses fool you, Haradinaj was one ruthless KLA militant in the 1990s, accused of murdering Serbs, Roma and even non-compliant Albanians during the Kosovo war.
---> Carla del Ponte: „We had a lot of difficulties to come to an end to the investigation against Haradinaj. But, at the end, we achieved it. So, we could issue an indictment against him and this indictment was confirmed by a judge.“
However, as the trial started and progressed, something strange happened.
---> France 24: „Haradinaj was freed of all charges because a number of witnesses were killed. According to Hague Tribunal Prosecutor Carla del Ponte, 9 witnesses were killed between 2003 and 2007. So, in such a situation, living witnesses are frightened and some of them refused to testify or they changed their testimony. Moreover, UNMIK, the UN Mission in Kosovo, refused to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal by refusing to send evidence of war crimes.“
It’s understandable that NATO didn’t want their KLA buddies in jail, but the largest single act of ethnic cleansing during the Yugoslav wars, Operation Storm, in which Croat forces ethnically cleansed a quarter of a million Serbs from the Krajina region in Croatia, with thousands killed in cold blood, was perhaps the biggest test for the Tribunal. General Ante Gotovina was in charge of that operation, and the Hague Tribunal put up an indictment. Gotovina was arrested and tried, and, believe it or not, convicted.
---> Carla del Ponte: „First instance trial, he was convicted 23 years. So, evidences were there, enough evidences to convict and to sentence him.“
However, another strange thing happened here. The case quickly went to appeal, the previous sentence was overturned and Gotovina was immediately released.
---> Carla del Ponte: „It was extremely, extremely damaging to Serbs in this case, you know, and killing, and that they, in Operation Storm, they obliged the Serbs to leave Knin, and so on, and so on, so we proved it! At the first instance, Gotovina was convicted. So, why now, on appeal, this completely different decision.“ Boris: „Do you think it was more of a political decision?“, Carla del Ponte: „You say it and I must say ’yes’, because I can not believe it.“
Ante Gotovina was given a hero’s welcome in Croatia, but not all Croats believed in the Gotovina myth.
---> Domagoj Margetic: “During the 4 war years, Gotovina earned the Hidroelektro Niskogradnja company, which was worth around 63 million dollars at the moment of privatization; one house in a residential part of Zagreb, today worth around 1.2 million dollars; only from the highway construction he earned 3.3 million dollars; a villa in Pakostani, today worth 4.4 million dollars, situated near the sea. All that during the 4 years of war. He also has a military pension which is 1900 dollars. That’s for coffee and drinks with friends. And he’s supposed to be a hero? According to any definition, he is a war profiteer.“