MACEDONIA: DUI'S AHMETI ON MAY 29 AGREEMENT AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000059 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL MK SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: DUI'S AHMETI ON MAY 29 AGREEMENT AND RETURN OF ICTY CASES REF: A. 2007 SKOPJE 950 ¶B. 2007 SKOPJE 39 Classified By: POLOFF NEISULER FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) In a January 22 meeting, the Ambassador urged DUI president Ahmeti not to continue to link resolution of the two remaining outstanding requirements of the May 29 Agreement between DUI and governing VMRO -- a draft language law and the social package for victims of conflict (ref A). The Ambassador made it clear that such linkage would be outside of the scope of the agreement, but Ahmeti did not back down. ¶2. (C) Voicing concern about the even-handedness of the Macedonian judiciary, Ahmeti argued against the return to Macedonian jurisdiction of four unindicted ICTY cases involving eAlbanian suspects (ref B),some of which are DUI members (including Ahmeti). He insisted that the cases fall under the country's 2002 Amnesty Law, and therefore should not be prosecuted in Macedonia. End summary. LANGUAGE LAW AND VICTIMS OF CONFLICT PACKAGE -- NO LINKAGE -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) During a January 22 meeting with eAlbanian DUI president Ali Ahmeti, the Ambassador reiterated that the two remaining outstanding requirements of the May 29 Agreement -- a draft language law and a social package for the victims of the 2001 conflict -- should not be linked (ref A). Praising the GOM-DUI effort to deal with these issues, the Ambassador cautioned Ahmeti against asking at this time for more than the May 29 Agreement provides for. The Ambassador added that she was confident conclusion of an agreement on the social package was both achievable and the decent thing to do for DUI's constituents. ¶4. (C) Although he clearly had understood the Ambassador's points, Ahmeti nevertheless ruled out any effort to close the victims of conflict issue before completing a draft language law. Ideally, according to him, the law would define the general parameters for the use of languages in Macedonia. The Ambassador urged an unconvinced Ahmeti to move away from such a general approach and to instead focus on the practical applications of a language law, which could always be amended in the future. RETURN OF ICTY CASES - TOO CLOSE TO HOME -------------- ¶5. (C) Ahmeti raised also the issue of the return to Macedonian jurisdiction of four ICTY cases dealing with acts allegedly committed by eAlbanians, many of them DUI leaders and members, during the 2001 conflict (ref B). Ahmeti wryly commented that local media with ties to the GOM already were preparing the public for "sending me to jail." He dismissed the charges against him, because they had been pressed by then-Minister of Interior, and ICTY indictee, Boskovski. ¶6. (C) Furthermore, Ahmeti added that all actions related to the 2001 conflict were covered by the 2002 Amnesty Law and should not even be prosecuted in Macedonia. Asked by the Ambassador if DUI and rival eAlbanian DPA had the same position on the Amnesty Law, Ahmeti opined that DPA's self-interest would likely drive it close to DUI's position. He also noted that the government was not taking any action to pursue cases related to the mistreatment or disappearances of ethnic Albanian citizens during the 2001 conflict. Ahmeti concluded that he did not trust the Macedonian courts to ensure fair proceedings in any trial related to the four cases. COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) Ahmeti has misjudged his leverage in stubbornly insisting on linkage between progress on the draft language SKOPJE 00000059 002 OF 002 law and resolution of the social package for the victims of the 2001 conflict. PM Gruevski has made it clear that he is willing to complete the latter, but will not give in to what he considers excessive DUI demands on the language law. We will continue pressing Ahmeti to at least accept a victory on the social package, even if DUI and VMRO are unlikely to come to closure soon on the draft language law. ¶8. (C) The return of the ICTY cases is certain to roil the political waters here, with both DUI and DPA publicly insisting that the cases are covered by the Amnesty Law, while the eMacedonian public is likely to clamor for prosecutions of eAlbanian suspects, especially if eMacedonian ICTY indictee and former MOI Boskovski is convicted in The Hague on the war crimes charges for which he currently is on trial. MILOVANOVIC