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War crimes investigators have arrested a former ethnic Albanian rebel for alleged war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with investigative reporter Michael Montgomery about the case.
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MARCO WERMAN: Elsewhere in Europe, an arrest in Kosovo yesterday takes us back to a war that ended more than a decade ago. EU police say they arrested a man they suspect committed war crimes in Kosovo back in 1999. Kosovo, which today claims independence, was then officially part of Serbia. The war began with a Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian rebels in the region. It ended with a NATO bombing campaign that forced Serbia out of Kosovo. The man now in detention is reportedly a former member of the ethnic Albanian KLA rebel group. The crimes he allegedly committed took place at a secret detention camp where the KLA held Serb prisoners. Michael Montgomery is with the Center for Investigative Reporting. He broke the story that led to the current investigation.
MICHAEL MONTGOMERY: We set out to look into the fate of missing people; people who went missing either during the 1999 war or after the war when NATO troops moved in. And it led us to this sort of secret group of detention facilities that had been run by the Kosovo Liberation Army, some of which had been across the border in Albania. That led us to this border town of Kukas, which has been used as a supply base for the KLA for their operations into Kosovo. That led us to a witness who had been held there, he was, I think, an Albanian who had been held at this base, who had been tortured, who had seen other people tortured and who, in fact had seen other people killed. He spoke with us reluctantly, but in the end he felt it was too important not to get his story out, although we did not use his name.
WERMAN: Right, let’s hear what he had to say.
INTERPRETER: I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen people beaten, stabbed, hit with batons. I’ve seen people left without eating for five or six days. I’ve seen people who are put on bullet proof vests and being shot at to see whether the bullet proof vest was working. I’ve seen people who are thrown in tombs. I’ve seen people beaten up and killed.
WERMAN: And his testimony Michael, led to this investigation essentially, it sounds like.
MONTGOMERY: Well I do understand that he has been interviewed extensively by European police in Kosovo and he is considered one of their best sources for this investigation.
WERMAN: So what now? Will there likely be more arrests on war crimes charges?
MONTGOMERY: We do expect that this is the tip of the iceberg and that there will be more arrests. Where they lead is unclear. There are parallel investigations underway in Kosovo on corruption charges for other former KLA commanders and I think it raises an interesting point, and that is the connection between war crimes and the kind of criminal conduct that happens after wars. That is corruption, organized crime, and I think the good news in this is that the European Union, which is now essentially running Kosovo’s Justice Ministry, is working very aggressive on these cases, much more so than the United Nations which accomplished very little in the ten years that it ran Kosovo.
WERMAN: Finally Michael, how does this all relate to the stabilization of the ethnic situation in Kosovo today?
MONTGOMERY: Well, not surprisingly, this whole case has been politicized in Kosovo and in Serbia with different sides making different allegations. There have been some outrageous claims by Serbia on this case. On the other hand, the Kosovo leadership that is the ethnic Albanians, many of whom were in the KLA, have pretty much dismissed that any crimes happened either in this one camp or in anywhere else.
WERMAN: Reporter Michael Montgomery with the Center for Investigative Reporting, thanks so much.
MONTGOMERY: Thank you Marco.
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