Ernst (2014) reports on the legal and political investigation of the war crimes committed against Rroma, Serbs and other minorities during the Kosovo War. The accused are the leaders of the liberation movement of Kosovo (UCK), who, according to the just-concluded report of the American judge John Clint Williamson, but also according to the findings of the Swiss correspondent of the council of Europe, Dick Marty, were involved in systematic acts of violence against ethnic minorities in the Kosovo. The Kosovo ministry of foreign affairs stated that the actions of the UCK were correct and committed for the sake of the independence of the Kosovo. Williamson’s report contains no new facts or insights, it stated. Nevertheless, a trial on the responsibility of the UCK, built on the insights of Williamson’s report, will be held: “In the coming year – probably in the Netherlands – a special tribunal will be initiated. International judges will then evaluate Williamson’s allegations on the basis of Kosovar law. This court will formally report to the European rule of law mission EULEX in Kosovo. The unpublished accusations are directed against a ring of high functionaries of the UCK, which are accused of crimes against humanity. It is a matter of a “brutal attack on almost all Serbs who wished to remain in the Kosovo, the Roma and those Kosovo-Albanians who opposed certain UCK groups.” Large parts of the minority population of the Kosovo south of the Ibar river were displaced. The crimes were so numerous and so systematically committed, that they meet the statement of facts of a crime against humanity.” Ernst sees the continuity of former warlords as current policy makers in Kososvo as a decisive factor for the slow investigation of war crimes. These policy makers were not held accountable for these facts not for the intimidation or even murder of witnesses of the war crimes, and is due in part on the inadequate work of the international Kfor peacekeepers and international police and judicial authorities, which neither were able to prevent the atrocities nor did pursue them. Regarding the fate of the Rroma, their persecution and displacement is only known among very few. However, their discrimination and marginalisation continues to the present day (compare Echo der Zeit 2014, Robelli 2014, Rroma Foundation Reports 2008, Schulte von Drach 2014).

• Echo der Zeit (2014) Dick Marty: «Man muss jetzt ein Gericht schaffen». In: Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen – Echo der Zeit vom 29.7.2014. http://www.srf.ch/player/radio/echo-der-zeit/audio/dick-marty-man-muss-jetzt-ein-gericht-schaffen?id=82f1fcb8-3753-4bc9-aaa1-5893fee4947c
• Ernst, Andreas (2014) Das Versagen des Westens in Kosovo. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung online vom 7.8.2014. http://www.nzz.ch/international/europa/das-versagen-des-westens-in-kosovo-1.18357879
• Robelli, Enver (2014) Die Kriegsverbrechen der Freiheitskämpfer. In: Berner Zeitung online vom 30.7.2014. http://www.bernerzeitung.ch/ausland/europa/Die-Kriegsverbrechen-der-Freiheitskaempfer/story/24289303
• Rroma Foundation Reports (2008) Kosovo Rroma: The Situation after Independence. In: Rroma Foundation online vom 22.11.2008. https://rroma.org/reports/reports-nav/kosovo-rroma-the-situation.html
• Schulte von Drach, Markus C. (2014) EU-Ermittler will UÇK-Kämpfer anklagen. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung online vom 29.11.2014. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/kosovo-eu-ermittler-will-uk-kaempfer-anklagen-1.2068129

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