William Walker says KLA leaders are being investigated unfairly in Hague

Screenshot of Walker while being interviewed by Euronews Albania

 The former head of the OSCE verification mission in Kosovo, William Walker, said to Euronews Albania that the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders are being unfairly investigated in The Hague, as the purpose of their fight was the liberation of the country.

According to him, the term terrorist can not be used to describe the KLA, but this term must be used for the Serbian army and paramilitaries like Arkan.

"The KLA is as its name implies. The KLA was a group of mostly young people who could no longer stand the oppression and war crimes being committed by the Belgrade government. They took up arms to defend themselves, the villages, and to protect their families and the result was the war.

I think it is a strange use of the word terrorist to describe the KLA. I would use the word 'terrorist' for the Serbian army, police, paramilitaries, guys like Arkan and his militia groups who commit really horrific acts in Kosovo," he said.

Walker, who witnessed the Recak massacre, which would later change the history of Kosovo, said that Kosovo and Serbia were not treated equally, as the losing side, Serbia, was not being held accountable for the atrocities it committed in Kosovo.

"The special prosecutor's offices claim that war crimes, atrocities were committed by the KLA. And now they are trying to investigate some people who have been identified as guilty… we are talking about 5 fighters who went to The Hague, including President Thaçi and former Parliament Speaker Kadri Veseli.

One of them was the terrain commander, Jakup Krasnqi, whom I knew and met several times during the war. He was not a fighter, in my opinion, he was a spokesman for the KLA and Thaçi was not a fighter, he was a political leader of the organization.

And to hear that for 7 hours there were raids on their houses, and more on Krasniqi's house. I see the whole process as strange", said Mr. Walker.

According to Mr. Walker, Serbian President Vucic, who was Milosevic's minister, has not been accused by anyone in all these years

"In my opinion, there have been no similar attempts against the Serbian side. Recently there were elections in Serbia, and Mr. Vucic is still in power. But Vucic was a propagandist, Milosevic's minister of information, during the worst period of the genocide.

I have not heard anyone accuse him of anything, in any kind of legal process and I see the situation very asymmetric. Both sides are being treated differently. The irony is that the winning side is paying the price and the losing side, Serbia is not being held accountable for the horrible crimes it committed, which the people of my mission were witnesses", said the former head of the OSCE verification mission in Kosovo.