Reportedly “dead" witnesses in Haradinaj’s case alive

8 January 2011 | 16:59 | Source: Tanjug

PRIŠTINA -- The Muriqi brothers, witnesses in the case against Ramush Haradinaj, who were reported as murdered by the CoE Rapporteur Jean Charles Gardetto, are alive. Ramush Haradinaj (FoNet, file) Ramiz and Sadik Muriqi told Kohavision Television (KTV) that they were very surprised and distraught by lies stated in the report. They underscored that they had nothing to do with the proceedings against Haradinaj, that they were not witnesses in the case and that they lived a peaceful life in Peć. The Muriqi brothers announced that they would file a suit against the author of the report because their names were misused for, as they said, lies and slanders against Kosovo. The Priština media reported earlier that in addition to the report on illegal human organ trafficking in Kosovo authored by CoE Special Rapporteur Dick Marty, the agenda for the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) winter session will also include the report on witness protection in former Yugoslav countries, including Kosovo, in which Gardetto stated that witnesses who dared to testify on war crimes in Kosovo winded up killed. In the report titled “The protection of witnesses as a cornerstone for justice and reconciliation in the Balkans” Gardetto described Kosovo as a “black hole” when it comes to witness protection.