MACEDONIA: RETURNED ICTY CASES THREATEN BOTH RULING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SKOPJE 000607

SIPDIS

BELGRADE PLEASE ALSO PASS PODGORICA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KAWC MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: RETURNED ICTY CASES THREATEN BOTH RULING
COALITION AND INTERETHNIC RELATIONS

REF: A. SKOPJE 590

B. SKOPJE 601

CLASSIFIED BY: Ambassador Reeker for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: The four war crimes case files recently returned to
Macedonian jurisdiction
by the ICTY are threatening to fracture the new coalition between the
largest ethnic Macedonian
party, VMRO-DPMNE, and its ethnic Albanian partner, DUI. One of the
four cases has already
proceeded to trial; all of them implicate e-Albanian MPs. These
cases have the potential to
revive interethnic tensions and raw -- if latent -- hostility
stemming from the brief civil conflict
of 2001. The international community has invested significant
resources into training judges and
prosecutors on how to handle these cases properly. Despite this,
there are questions about law
enforcement and the judiciary's ability to process these cases fairly
in a highly politicized
environment. End summary.

Political Maneuvering as Gruevski Seeks a Way Out
-------------- --------------


2. (C) In the course of a Sept. 21 meeting on other subjects with PM
Gruevski and FonMin
Milososki, then-Charge inquired as to the GoM's thinking regarding
the decision to prosecute the
four cases recently returned to Macedonian jurisdiction by the ICTY.
(Background: ICTY
agreed to review the cases in 2002, but the tribunal declined to
prosecute --or even investigate --
and returned the files to Macedonia earlier this year. All four
cases implicate ethnic Albanians
for acts committed during interethnic violence here in 2001.)
Gruevski responded that he
understood that this was a difficult issue for his coalition partner,
the e-Albanian DUI party, and
said he was meeting DUI leader Ali Ahmeti that same day to discuss
the issue. He added that the
Chief Prosecutor (CP) recently told him that the 2002 amnesty law
does not apply to these cases
(as Ahmeti has argued, see ref a),and that he will proceed with
three out of the four (Gruevski
said the CP told him that he does not have sufficient evidence to
pursue the so-called "NLA
Leadership" case).


3. (C) Gruevski added that the CP assessed that these cases could
take as long as five years to
prosecute. The "Mavrovo Road Workers" case (in which e-Albanians
allegedly tortured a group
of e-Macedonians) is the only one where court proceedings have
already begun, but Gruevski
said the CP told him that the fact that there are 19 defendants and
the case is complex and seven
years old will allow defense attorneys to drag out the process for
years. Gruevski added that in
another case, the Neprostino case, the CP said there is strong
eyewitness testimony that the e-
Albanian militant "Commander Leka" (now a DPA MP) murdered unarmed
civilians. Gruevski
added that courts in Belgrade and Sarajevo have prosecuted cases
which the ICTY has decided
not to pursue, so Macedonia has the same right.

What to Say to the Albanian Community?
--------------


4. (C) Charge responded that while we were not in a position to argue
the matter vis--vis
Macedonian law, this issue could have a serious deleterious effect on
interethnic relations. Both
sides committed violent acts in 2001, yet these cases are only being
brought against one side
from the conflict and will make it hard for the Macedonian people to
put these events behind
them. It is clear that the e-Albanian community understood that the
spirit of the 2002 amnesty

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law was that it would be left up to the ICTY -- not the Macedonian
justice system -- to adjudicate
any war crimes arising from the conflict. Gruevski would have to
make a convincing argument
to the e-Albanian and international communities as to why these cases
must proceed.


5. (C) Gruevski replied that he understood the point, but he is in a
delicate position politically.
He would have no problem if the CP or the courts ruled that the
amnesty law indeed applies and
the cases are dropped, but he believes he cannot take a stand on the
issue other than to let the
cases proceed. He is concerned that the main e-Albanian parties, DPA
and DUI, may
soon introduce a measure asking parliament to take a stand on the
issue. While he understood
that his coalition deal with DUI could be on the line, he told us
that he cannot go along with
criticizing the prosecutions and then face the e-Macedonian
community, especially because the
ICTY recently convicted e-Macedonian former MoI official Johan
Tarculovski of war crimes.

A Temporary Accommodation...
--------------


6. (SBU) Following intensive VMRO-DUI negotiations over the course of
last week, DUI MPs
Hisen Xhemaili (Mavrovo case) and Hajrulla Misini (Lipkovo Dam case)
voluntarily gave up
their parliamentary immunity in order to submit to court proceedings
in these cases (Mavrovo is
the only case currently at trial; the Neprostino and the Lipkovo Dam
cases are still with an
investigative judge). Macedonian law required that the Parliament
formally strip their immunity,
which it did in an emergency late-night session on Sept. 27.
Gruevski's Chief of Staff, Martin
Protoger, told us Sept. 26 that the CP has agreed not to apply for
preventive detention for
Xhemaili in exchange for his agreement to be present at trial.
Protoger added that the CP told
him that it appears that there is solid evidence against only four of
the 19 defendants in the
Mavrovo case, and Xhemaili is not one of them. (Which begs the
question why the other 15 are
being tried at all.)


7. (SBU) While both sides have tried to approach this problem with
relative goodwill and have
kept harsh or provocative rhetoric to a minimum, these cases are
potentially explosive, and not
only for DUI. The three largest e-Albanian parties all have MPs
implicated in these cases.
Worse, trying these cases in the Macedonian courts could be viewed in
the e-Albanian
community purely as revenge for 2001 and for the trial of the two
e-Macedonian officials in The
Hague, Tarculovski and former Interior Minister Boskovski, who was
recently acquitted.


8. (SBU) The international community, primarily the OSCE, has
provided extensive training to
law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges on how to properly
investigate and try these cases,
including witness protection, investigative techniques, knowledge of
international legal
principles and standards, etc. Additionally, OSCE has official
observer status and has had the
opportunity to review the files. Their experts here characterize the
evidence they have seen as
relatively scanty and the prosecutors and judges as apparently
unprepared, despite being trained.
OSCE and other observers here believe that Macedonian law enforcement
and judicial officials
are subject to political pressure and may be reluctant to make any
ruling or judgment that the
GoM might oppose.


9. (C) Ambassador discussed this issue with PM Gruevski during their

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initial meeting on Sept 29
(ref b). Ambassador urged that the GoM exert responsible leadership
to ensure and fair and
transparent outcome.

...But the Problem Remains
--------------


10. (SBU) Based on the interim accommodation DUI and VMRO have
reached, it appears that
these cases will proceed, and tensions may continue to rise. We will
continue to urge the GoM -
including VMRO and DUI -- to work to calm potential interethnic
tensions arising from these
cases, while maintaining a firm line that they must be handled fairly
and transparently.

REEKER