From: Bledar Qalliu
Kosovo Coalition Ally Demands Suspension of Dialogue with Serbia following War Crimes Charges against President

The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) has demanded the government to suspend the dialogue with Serbia until the country’s political parties and institutions agree on a plan to face the challenging situation posed by war crime charges against the president and other political leaders.

In a statement following the publication of charges against several former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, some of them current politicians, the AAK stressed their belief in the fighters’ innocence, and in the just war fought by the KLA against Serbia’s genocidal government of Slobodan Milosevic during the Kosovo War.

The junior coalition ally demanded the government to immediately suspend the dialogue with Serbia until a new decision; have an urgent meeting of the Security Council; have an extraordinary session of parliament in support of the KLA and its members; have a meeting of all political parties to discuss the way ahead.

The AAK finally posed a question to the country’s “strategic international allies”: “Are we on the right path to NATO membership, or will these events turn Kosovo back?”

The party is led by Ramush Haradinaj, former KLA commander, former prime minister, charged and acquitted twice by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

In the last two days, war crime charges by The Hague-based Kosovo court against Kosovo leaders were made public. They included President Hashim Thaci, PDK leader and former speaker of parliament Kadri Veseli, former speaker of parliament Jakup Krasniqi, and MP Rexhep Selimi. Thaci and Veseli resigned from their posts, and they are travelling to the Hague court today together with Selimi. Krasniqi was arrested and sent to The Hague detention facilities on Wednesday.