A key prosecution witness in the retrial against Ramush Haradinai before the Hague tribunal, Shefqet Kabashi, was arrested and handed over to the Tribunal based on earlier indictment for contempt of court because he refused to testify at the first trial of Haradinai.

At the same time, retrial has started with the prosecution opening statement against Haradinai, Idriz Baljai and Lahi Brahimai for crimes against mostly Serb civilians in the so-called KLA camp in the village of Jablanica near Decani in Kosovo in 1998.

Kabashi, who was also a member of the KLA and the guard at the camp, should testify tomorrow. He is one of the two key witnesses who refused to testify at the first-instance hearing, after which Haradinai and Baljai were acquitted of all 37 counts on April 3, 2008, while Brahimai was sentenced to six years in prison.

In July last year, the Tribunal Appeals Chamber overturned the acquittal of Haradinai and Baljai, on the grounds that the first-instance process was marked by intimidation of witnesses, and decided for them to be retried on 6 counts.

The Chamber confirmed Brahimai’s verdict and decided to repeat the trial against Brahimai on four counts.