{"id":142065,"date":"2017-02-14T12:50:15","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T11:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.recom.link\/?p=142065"},"modified":"2020-04-17T11:31:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T10:31:52","slug":"hiding-plain-sight-kosovos-protected-witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/hiding-plain-sight-kosovos-protected-witnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiding in plain sight – Kosovo’s protected witnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"
A new court faces old problems in protecting witnesses to a dark chapter in Kosovo\u2019s fight for freedom.<\/div>\n
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\"Former
(Former fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Photo: Hazir Reka)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Halil opened the metal door and instinctively placed his right hand on the Austrian-made Glock pistol in a holster on his belt. A camera kept watch above the entrance to the house, which was set back from the road. The precautions have become ritual.<\/p>\n

Seventeen years have passed since Halil (not his real name) says he was detained and tortured by Kosovo Albanian guerrillas in a secret prison in the mountains of northern Albania.<\/p>\n

A Kosovo Albanian, Halil\u2019s crime had been to support the guerrillas\u2019 rivals for post-war power.<\/p>\n

BIRN cannot identify Halil by his real name or describe his appearance or whereabouts for the sake of his security, other than to say that he lives in his native Kosovo in the midst of those who would have him silenced.<\/p>\n

Within months, he expects to take the stand against his torturers as part of a potentially explosive bid to shed light on the darker side of Kosovo\u2019s fight for freedom from Serbian repression, a fight that won the decisive backing of NATO bombers in 1999.<\/p>\n

A newly-created court, based in the Netherlands, is expected to issue its first indictments within weeks or months.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s success will rest on Halil and other Kosovo Albanians ready to testify against politically powerful former guerrillas, heroes to many of their kin.<\/p>\n

The stakes are high, both for Kosovo\u2019s stability and its consolidation as an independent state, and for the witnesses who have come forward.<\/p>\n

Others before them have paid with their lives, victims of the kind of systematic intimidation that has dogged efforts to bring to justice those guerrillas suspected of war crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tortured and killed us,\u201d Halil said. \u201cI live to bear witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court, which is funded by the European Union, declined to provide any details for this story of the kind of measures it is taking to ensure the safety of witnesses, saying only that work was under way \u201cwith everyone making sure that adequate measures are in place to protect witnesses before, during, and after the trial\u201d.<\/p>\n

Clint Williamson, the American investigator whose preliminary probe provided the basis for the court, warned in 2014 of \u201congoing\u201d efforts to undermine his work through interference with witnesses. But indictments, he said, would follow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI live to bear witness\u201d\u2013 anonymous Kosovo Albanian witness against former guerrilla fighters. –<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Due to the time that has elapsed and the paucity of material evidence, prosecutors will rely heavily on eyewitnesses. Many are believed to have already relocated outside of Kosovo and some will have been given new identities. But others, like Halil, refuse to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to hide in Kosovo,\u201d said Robert Dean, a former senior prosecutor with the United Nations mission that took over the running of Kosovo after the 1998-99 war.<\/p>\n

But, he reasoned, \u201cI don\u2019t think they would agree to go forward with this chamber unless they had the mechanisms in place [to protect witnesses].<\/p>\n

\u2018Dark cloud over the country\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new court \u2013 known as the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor\u2019s Office \u2013 has been set up to try ex-KLA figures behind what Williamson described as a \u201ccampaign of persecution\u201d against Serbs and Roma after Kosovo\u2019s 1998-99 war, and the \u201cextrajudicial killings, illegal detentions and inhumane treatment\u201d of Kosovo Albanians deemed to be political rivals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Williamson was appointed by the EU to look into accusations made against the former guerrillas in an explosive 2010 report by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, which included the claim that the KLA had removed organs from Serb detainees in northern Albania for sale abroad.<\/p>\n

The EU announced the creation of a special court to pursue Williamson\u2019s findings and Kosovo, after much hand-wringing and anger, endorsed the move in a parliamentary vote in August 2015.<\/p>\n

Williamson, however, warned that sabotage tactics were already under way.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as a few powerful people continue to thwart investigations into their own criminality, the people of Kosovo as a whole pay the price as this leaves a dark cloud over the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Halil has already testified twice in local trials of ex-guerrillas, brought by a European Union mission, EULEX, that took over the handling of sensitive war crimes and corruption cases in Kosovo when it declared independence from Serbia in 2008.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He is under no illusion that his identity remains a secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey promised us that we will not be known,\u201d he said of European prosecutors during the first trials. \u201cBut I think they (the ex-KLA) know us well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halil\u2019s protection amounts to the Glock pistol, a bullet-proof vest and self-imposed restrictions on his movement.<\/p>\n

He said he was offered relocation outside of Kosovo, but declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not young. I have children with their families here. We are a big family and can\u2019t all move,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Investigation shrouded in secrecy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Halil\u2019s family was targeted by the KLA for its affiliation with the party of Ibrahim Rugova, who led a decade of passive resistance to Serbian rule only to be eclipsed by the guerrilla fighters in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

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Political assassinations, detention camps and a wave of revenge attacks on Serbs and Roma after the war left a stain on the guerrilla insurgency, which had won the support of Western powers as they tried together to halt the expulsion and massacre of Kosovo Albanian civilians by forces under late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.<\/p>\n

The guerrillas took political power after the war, and critics say that for a number of years Kosovo\u2019s Western backers shied away from holding them to account in the interests of stability.<\/p>\n

More recently, several trials held in Kosovo have convicted a number of guerrillas, but the process has long been hampered by the nature of Kosovo\u2019s close-knit society of 1.8 million people, where testifying against KLA fighters is seen by many as treason.<\/p>\n

In a country barely half the size of Wales, the former guerrillas hold sway in politics and the security structures.<\/p>\n

Witnesses against the ex-KLA \u201care at risk and are in really serious danger\u201d, said Natasa Kandic, founder of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre and a dogged advocate for victims of war crimes in Kosovo and elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n

Kandic, however, said she saw cause for optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some expectations that it will be different,\u201d she said of the new court, speaking in English.<\/p>\n

Kandic said the investigative work of the new court had been \u201cvery secret until the end\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody succeeded in discovering who would be accused, who are the defendants, the witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to see that people are safe,\u201d Kandic said. \u201cIf witnesses are not safe, it will produce the feeling in Kosovo that nobody is free to\u2026 speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefan Trechsel, a Swiss judge who took part in the trial of Milosevic in The Hague, said it was of vital importance that the list of witnesses remained secret.<\/p>\n

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(Stefan Trechsel, a Swiss judge who took part in the UN trial of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. Photo courtesy of Stefan Trechsel.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u201cThat is a task, of course, for the investigating authorities in the first place. They will be on the terrain, they will have to speak to many, many people and they must do this in a way that does not show whom they regard as witnesses and whom they do not regard as witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years spent in hiding<\/strong><\/p>\n

The past is littered with lessons.<\/p>\n

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In March 2011, this reporter interviewed a former KLA prison guard who was due to testify later that year in the trial of 10 former KLA fighters, including Fatmir Limaj, an ex-guerrilla commander, former government minister and then close confidant of Hashim Thaci, Kosovo\u2019s current president.<\/p>\n

The 10 (Limaj, Nexhmi Krasniqi, Naser Krasniqi, Naser Shala, Behlul Limaj, Refki Mazreku, Sabit Shaba, Shaban Shala, Arben Krasniqi and Besim Shurdhaj) were accused of war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war at a KLA detention camp in the central Kosovo village of Klecka in 1999.<\/p>\n

The identity of the witness, Agim Zogaj, had been declared secret by European prosecutors and he was known only as Witness X. Six months after the interview, however, Zogaj was found hanging from a tree in a park in the western German city of Duisburg, a month before the so-called Klecka trial was due to start. German authorities ruled the death suicide, but Zogaj\u2019s family maintains he was killed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The contents of the interview are being published in this article for the first time, and shed light on the stress endured by such witnesses, the bargaining that goes on and the weight of \u2018honour\u2019 within Albanian society.<\/div>\n
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\u2018We thought he was going to the US\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Fatime Selimaj recalls the sunny day in February 2003 when her 23-year-old son, Ilir, packed his bags and left the house having taken the witness stand against former fellow fighters in the KLA.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe thought he was going [to be relocated] to the US,\u201d she said. But he was back two weeks later. She said the UN mission in Kosovo had told him \u201cthey could only send him to Montenegro, and he refused to go there\u201d, likely given Montenegro\u2019s close proximity and large ethnic Albanian community.<\/em><\/p>\n

Two months later, in April 2003, Ilir was shot dead at the wheel of his car near the family home in the western Pec\/Peja region of Kosovo. An aunt of his, five months pregnant with twins, also died in the vehicle. Kosovo police launched an investigation but no one has ever been charged with Selimaj\u2019s killing.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis case had high stakes, politically,\u201d the UN prosecutor in the case, Kamudoni Nyasulu, told BIRN.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nyasulu said some witnesses in the case had some form of police security but were \u201cnot exactly under a witness protection program.\u201d Selimaj was one of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis involved a variety of safety\/security actions that were taken at various points of the trial process,\u201d he said. \u201cThis did not guarantee 24-hour protection and may not have involved restriction to\u2026 movement or communication.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Selimaj family never submitted a formal complaint to the UN over the killing and a spokesman for the mission said it had no record of the case.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nyasulu recalled having lunch, accompanied by bodyguards, over the road from the court during hearings before the investigating judge, when a suspect who Nyasulu said was running for political office sat at his table. \u201cDo you know that right here I can kill you and nothing will happen,\u201d Nyasulu quoted the man, whom he did not identify, as saying.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"(Fatime
(Fatime Selimaj, whose son Ilir was shot dead in 2003, months after testifying against former commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Photo: Serbeze Haxhiaj)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zogaj spoke of years spent in hiding, of attempts on his life, attempted bribery and of pressure from associates of Limaj for him not to testify.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Zogaj said he had been offered, by people close to Limaj, 50,000-60,000 euros to withdraw from the case but that if money was the solution he would seek 600,000 instead to compensate for the years of distress caused to his family. In another instance, he said he was offered a monthly payment of 500 euros and told to open a bank account in his wife\u2019s name, which he did.<\/p>\n

But in both cases he said he received nothing. The father of his daughter\u2019s husband put pressure on him to withdraw, Zogaj said. \u201cThey have been using him as a tool, so that he can be involved instead of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Zogaj said he had sought a meeting with Limaj, in the presence of close relatives, in order to \u2018reconcile\u2019 and lay the matter to rest. He said it took place in the village of Lladrovc, close to Klecka, on March 2, 2011, two days before the interview. Limaj, however, refused to stand to shake his hand, Zogaj said, arguing he had done nothing wrong to the Zogaj family.<\/p>\n

At the time of the interview, Zogaj was unsure whether to testify and was unclear over the extent to which he had the protection of EULEX. He was considering leaving Kosovo but that he had turned down an offer by EULEX to move him to Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither our own police nor EULEX can guarantee for me. I am with God only, just with God,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope that my blood will be the last that is spilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zogaj had kept a diary of his time in the detention camp that was central to the prosecution case. But after his death, judges ruled his evidence inadmissible and Limaj and his co-defendants were acquitted. In late 2012, the decision on the diary was reversed and a retrial ordered. In September 2013, all 10 were again acquitted, with the presiding judge declaring Zogaj\u2019s evidence inconsistent, contradictory and \u201cwholly unreliable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Limaj, at the time a senior member of Thaci\u2019s ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), had already been acquitted in 2005 of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war by the UN war crimes court in The Hague over the mistreatment, torture and murder of Serbs and Albanians at another KLA detention camp. Co-defendant Isak Musliu was also acquitted, while a third accused, Haradin Bala, was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in jail.<\/p>\n

Zogaj said he had first been approached by Hague investigators in connection with their pursuit of Limaj and that was when his ordeal began. In the end he was not called to testify in that trial.<\/p>\n

Limaj returned to a hero\u2019s welcome, but in October last year he was charged with war crimes again, this time by Kosovo\u2019s own Special Prosecution, over the killing of two Kosovo Albanian civilians in 1998. Relatives of one of the victims have spoken publicly about what they know of the killing. His lawyer said the charges were unfounded. The trial began in January this year.<\/p>\n

BIRN submitted questions to Limaj via his party cabinet regarding Zogaj\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

Endrit Shala, Limaj\u2019s chief of staff, replied: \u201cAs you are aware as you (BIRN) have monitored the entire process, the court has treated all the evidence presented to the prosecution and ruled them admissible in court as well as other evidence presented in this case (including the testimonies of Witness X), and based on all these proofs and evidence after treating them, the court ruled that Mr. Limaj is innocent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to remind you that for the Kleqka (Klecka) trial, Limaj has been declared innocent twice by EULEX judges of the Basic Court and EULEX judges of the Court of Appeals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would also like to emphasise that there were no allegations presented in front of the court during this trial about any interference or influence of the witnesses, as if such allegations were made, the court and the prosecution would react.\u201d<\/p>\n

EULEX has repeatedly declined to discuss Zogaj\u2019s death or whether he was under its protection at the time. A spokeswoman declined to discuss the issue of witness protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission cannot discuss the functioning or security issues related to the protection of its witnesses,\u201d the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

Identity change<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both Zogaj and Halil epitomise the challenge of protecting witnesses in Kosovo, where identities rarely remain secret and the ties of family and home are so tight that the rigours of a full witness protection programme, possibly including a change of identity, often prove too much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trechsel, the Swiss judge in the Milosevic trial, compared changing identity to \u201ccivil death\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPractically all relations are severed, and it is of a doubtful degree of security because those who are after those persons often find out, despite all measures of secrecy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kamudoni Nyasulu, a former UN prosecutor, said that during his time in Kosovo between 2001 and 2003 he knew of only one Kosovar witness who accepted the conditions of full protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one man that I recall going into protection broke the rules within months,\u201d he told BIRN by email from his native Malawi. \u201cThe extended family ties are too strong for a Kosovar [an ethnic Albanian] to keep a man incommunicado for any extended period.\u201d<\/p>\n

BIRN interviewed family members of two witnesses who have been relocated out of Kosovo ahead of the new court\u2019s start. They said that new identities are among the options being offered.<\/p>\n

It is believed that many of the new court\u2019s witnesses are already outside of Kosovo, either having already emigrated or having been relocated for the purposes of the court.<\/p>\n

All have the option of having their faces and voices distorted when they come to give evidence.<\/p>\n

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“It is impossible to have completely anonymous witnesses\u201d \u2013 Frank Hopfel, a former judge at the UN tribunal in The Hague<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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But none will enjoy total anonymity, given that defendants have the right to know who is testifying against them and to prepare a cross-examination with their defence counsel.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, it is impossible to have completely anonymous witnesses,\u201d said Frank Hopfel, an Austrian judge who also worked at the UN tribunal in The Hague.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot have anonymous witnesses, but only distortion of face and voice towards the public and the possibility to use [written] witness statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Italian model<\/strong><\/p>\n

Witnesses elsewhere in Europe have complained of the price they have to pay in terms of the restrictions of a protection programme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOften we don\u2019t know which is the more dangerous enemy \u2013 the mafia or the state bureaucracy,\u201d said Sicilian Ignazio Cutro, who testified against the Italian mafia and now heads an association of protected witnesses. Cutro has bodyguards, but can make public appearances.<\/p>\n

A beefy man with greying hair at the temples, Cutro said the red tape and restrictions involved in being a protected witness were suffocating. Twice he cancelled interviews with this reporter because of security concerns voiced by his bodyguards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI choose to remain in my land, because I am convinced that it should be the mobsters who leave from here, not me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut one thing is certain \u2013 sooner or later the state will forget us\u2026 unlike the mobsters, who do not forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Italian High Prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia, however, is proud of the state\u2019s achievements in protecting witnesses and tackling the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.<\/p>\n

He spoke to BIRN in his office at the Court of Palermo, in the week that marked the 24th anniversary of the mafia murder of Giovanni Falcone, the respected Palermo prosecutor whose death galvanised the anti-mafia movement. Italy threw money and men at the fight, going after in particular the mafia heads in an effort to disrupt their organisation.<\/p>\n

While the mafia remains a potent force, the country has come a long way from the blood-soaked eighties and nineties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 25 years, no witness has been murdered,\u201d said De Lucia.<\/p>\n

One of a number of officials involved in selecting witnesses for official protection, De Lucia said Kosovo would do well to follow the Italian model by which the work of protecting witnesses and gathering testimony is split between two distinct administrative bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn administrative authority should take care of the security of the witnesses, if possible, one that is neutral,\u201d he said. Protection involves relocation, new identities, physical and financial security. It has an operating budget of 40 million euros per year.<\/p>\n

The European Council in June 2016 approved a budget of 29.1 million euros for the running of the new Kosovo court up to June 2017.<\/p>\n

Procedural issues<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an interview with BIRN in November, the new court\u2019s chief prosecutor, American David Schwendiman, said witness protection was a \u201cbig challenge\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Declining to discuss specifics, he said: \u201cProtecting those who we estimate are vulnerable or who become vulnerable because of participation in this process is absolutely vital. I have the authority to do that, I got assurances of the assistance to help me do that\u201d.<\/p>\n

One issue he will want to overcome is the legal confusion that marred previous efforts, experts say.<\/p>\n

Local war crimes cases brought first by the UN mission, UNMIK, and then EULEX were plagued by problems of intimidation.<\/p>\n

The cases were tried by a mixture of local and foreign prosecutors and judges, working according to a legal framework that was partly a hangover of the Yugoslav era and partly imposed by the UN. Court rules were inconsistently applied, jeopardising witnesses, while foreign staff members sometimes did not stay long enough to get to grips with Kosovo\u2019s specific environment and the dangers witnesses faced.<\/p>\n

In one instance, Nyasulu, the former UN prosecutor in Kosovo, said a case he was involved in was split into two, meaning one group of suspects was tried first and another immediately after. The witnesses were the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously this heightened the danger against the witnesses and myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI was living in a military\u2026 barracks to augment my security 24 hours. The witnesses were in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another case, under EULEX, a protected witness told BIRN that his identity was leaked, he believes by the defendant or the defendant\u2019s lawyers. He was relocated outside of Kosovo, but said relatives who stayed behind became the target of intimidation. A relative eventually took the stand to dispute the man\u2019s evidence. \u201cI did it for the sake of those who are alive,\u201d the relative, who cannot be identified, told BIRN.<\/p>\n

Dean, the former prosecutor who worked both under UNMIK and EULEX between 2005 and 2009 and also served as head of UNMIK\u2019s justice department, said: \u201cThe consistent application of the law was a big obstacle for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of the new court, he said: \u201cI know that they will certainly address those issues and I think that the procedural law as they develop it for the special chamber will take into consideration how to deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the court, which was established under Kosovo law, will have to rely to a degree on the cooperation of Kosovo\u2019s government, which includes the main party to emerge from the KLA ranks, the PDK.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn essential element of mutual trust and good will between Kosovar institutions and the Specialist Chamber is necessarily assumed,\u201d Dean said.<\/p>\n

Hopfel said the new court would have to make very clear to the government that \u201cany interference with the administration of justice will be subject to sanctions\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Ignazio
Ignazio Cutro, who testified against the Sicilian mafia and heads an association of protected witnesses. Photo courtesy of Ignazio Cutro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Courage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kosovo took over responsibility for war crimes cases in late 2014 and is in the process of developing a witness protection programme. Trust, however, is in short supply, said Besim Kelmendi, a prosecutor with Kosovo\u2019s Special Prosecution.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDue to the political and historical context, and a tradition of not believing in justice, witnesses still do not believe in Kosovo courts,\u201d Kelmendi told BIRN.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the Hague tribunal, UNMIK and EULEX, there were systematic failures in the protection of witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

BIRN wrote to the press office of the UN tribunal in The Hague about complaints regarding its system of witness protection but received no reply. BIRN also contacted Helena Vranov Schoorl, head of victim and witness support at the tribunal, who said that a study of witness experiences with the court suggested more should be done to develop and standardise support mechanisms.<\/p>\n

An UNMIK spokesman also declined to discuss the mission\u2019s record in witness protection.<\/p>\n

Hopfel, the judge in the UN tribunal, said the new court\u2019s options were limited and that much would come down to simple reassurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo strengthen their courage,\u201d he said, \u201cit is the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halil, the witness BIRN spoke to, said that European investigators had told him to call them if he had the slightest concern. \u201cI live from day to day,\u201d he said. \u201cLife with such limitations is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the valley, gunshots rang out, likely from a family celebration. Halil said he felt increasingly under threat. \u201cI am afraid for my family, not for myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should be in graves,” he said of his tormentors. \u201cOnly then will we be equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Published on Balkan Insight<\/a>, 14.02.2017.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new court faces old problems in protecting witnesses to a dark chapter in Kosovo\u2019s fight for freedom. Halil opened… ","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":142082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[594],"tags":[1943,1942,1944],"class_list":["post-142065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transitional-justice","tag-trials","tag-war-criminals","tag-witnesses"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHiding in plain sight - Kosovo's protected witnesses - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/hiding-plain-sight-kosovos-protected-witnesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hiding in plain sight - Kosovo's protected witnesses - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new court faces old problems in protecting witnesses to a dark chapter in Kosovo\u2019s fight for freedom. 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