EU Prosecutor Refuses to Testify in Limaj Trial

Fatmir Limaj’s defence team yesterday demanded the suspension of EULEX prosecutor Maurizio Salustro from the Klecka Case.

They say they want to question him concerning allegations that the late key witness in the trial said that he had testified under pressure from the Italian lawyer.

During Tuesday’s session at the Pristina District Court, Salustro answered that because he had immunity as an international staffer, he would not testify in the case as Limaj's defence lawyers had asked.

One of Limaj's defence lawyers, Karim Khan, responded that his client also had immunity as a lawmaker, as does the Italian prosecutor.

“I told the court that Limaj has immunity, and the internationals here should make sure that the applicable standards for local Kosovars are applicable to them too,” Khan said outside the courthouse in Pristina.

Limaj, an MP known once by the nom-de-guerre “Commander Steel”, and nine other ex-Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, fighters, are charged with committing war crimes against civilians, mainly Serbs, during the Kosovo war in 1999, in the so-called Klecka Case.

Limaj and the other former KLA fighters have pleaded not guilty to charges of ordering the torture and killing of at least eight prisoners, mostly Serbs, in 1999 at Klecka in central Kosovo.

The case rests mainly on the key testimony of Agim Zogaj, better known under the coded-name “Witness X”, who killed himself last September in Germany before the trial started.

“Witness X” provided key testimonials relating to the events alleged to have taken place at the Klecka camp during the 1999 war in Kosovo, where he reportedly served also as the prison guard.

In his 13 testimonies, Zogaj confirmed to prosecutors of the EU rule of law mission that he took orders from Limaj to execute both Albanians and Serbs.

But according to published fragments of Zogaj’s diary, he also wrote of being threatened by Salustro.

“All those who have immunity are indeed immune from the prosecution," another of Limaj’s lawyers, Tahir Rrecaj, said on Tuesday.

"But if such allegations have been raised by witness Agim Zogaj concerning pressure on him, making him sign forcibly records which he didn’t understand, as it was done in English... then I think he [Salustro] should be questioned as a witness with regard to the circumstances of the allegations raised against him,” he added.

The defence have been demanding the removal of the EULEX prosecutor from the case since last October, claiming Zogaj had called him corrupt.

During Monday's session, lawyers for the former Transport Minister asked the court to order a detailed analysis of the diary left by Zogaj.

The EULEX Chief Prosecutor is expected to make a decision on the defence lawyers' request by next week, since the trial will resume on Monday.

Limaj, who remains a popular figure in Kosovo, has already faced a war crimes trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY.

Along with Isak Musliu and Haradin Bala, he was charged with committing war crimes against Serbs and Albanians suspected of collaborating with Serbia in the Kosovo war.

In November 2005 the ICTY acquitted him and he returned home to a hero’s welcome, with street celebrations in the capital, Prishtina.