TIRANA, Sept. 16 /ATA/ – Former NATO commander in Europe Wesley Clark said on Wednesday that the events of the 1997-1999 Kosovo war should not be forgotten, stating he was shocked and angered by the Hague court’s verdict against four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders.
“Twenty-seven years have passed, and some of those in court have forgotten the fear of Milosevic’s repression of the people of Kosovo,” Clark said in a live interview with “Off the Record” talk show at A2 CNN television.
He recalled the summer of 1998, when he said more than 400,000 people were driven from their villages and Serbian forces carried out operations targeting intellectuals, lawyers and professors, as well as looting homes and committing horrendous crimes against civilians.
“People resisted, of course, but perhaps today, 27 years later, looking at what is happening with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in the Middle East, people forget. But it is not the same thing. They should not forget what happened from 1997 to 1999,” Clark said, adding that the lessons of Kosovo were important for protecting human rights.
Asked about the Hague verdict, which sentenced four former KLA leaders to a combined 81 years in prison, Clark said he had seen no evidence that justified the convictions.
“I know Thaçi and his colleagues and all those who fought. I testified at the trial and said what I had seen. I knew what was happening in Kosovo and about our cooperation with the KLA, and I saw no evidence to justify this kind of decision,” Clark said.
He acknowledged that the court had issued its ruling but said the appeals process would be difficult.
Clark also questioned the significance of evidence that had been kept secret from him during the proceedings.
“These secret testimonies, where even I was not shown any evidence from the prosecution, would not have changed my mind,” he said.
Clark said he had met Hashim Thaçi three times during the conflict, including at the Rambouillet talks, and later in Kosovo.
“The KLA and what was happening there was a rebellion against an authoritarian regime,” he said, adding that individual crimes had also been committed by Serbs against their Albanian neighbours.
Clark said he had also described in court the strong emotions within communities where people who had lived alongside each other for years felt betrayed by their neighbours.
He said he believed Thaçi had made a significant effort to protect the innocent Serbian population, including those living north of the Iber River.
“I had concerns about what could happen later, but I could not say that Thaçi was someone who should be convicted of war crimes,” Clark said.
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