Rubin: Demaçi was Thaçi's superior

During his testimony before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, James Rubin has described with great force the role that Adem Demaçi had in the KLA delegation. At one point, he even described him as Hashim Thaçi's superior.

On the second day of testimony, in the largest trial of the Special Rapporteur, former US Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin insisted that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) did not have a command structure. 

The former senior advisor at the US Department of State (DASH) has emphasized that Hashim Thaçi has also been influenced by Adem Demaçi's positions.

While answering questions from judge Christoph Barthe on Tuesday, Rubin said that after the Kosovo delegation did not accept the agreement in Rambouillet, the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, made a phone call with Demaç.

"Thaci needed Demaçi to say that we should postpone the issue of independence a little later. Therefore, Mr. Demaçi was his superior in decision-making in this group. He needed ideological support from the founder or the main ideological person," Rubini emphasized.

The defense of Thaçi and others has insisted that Demaçi, who headed the KLA Office in Pristina, was the main figure of the guerrillas. 

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Rubini stressed that even in Rambouillet, Thaçi constantly consulted with Demaçi, who was against signing the agreement. He said that Demaçi's role was relativized after he resigned, as a sign of dissatisfaction with Thaçi's acceptance of the agreement.

"We all went back to Rambouillet and discussed all the information. I think someone told me, someone I listened to or someone with authority, or Thaçi told me or someone from the embassy, ​​so I was told or at least I believed that Adem Demaçi was no longer an active player after the signing of the Rambouillet agreement. In other words, he was overlooked," Rubin emphasized. 

On the second day of testimony, Rubin also said that he had never seen the KLA General Headquarters, but that in the Berisha mountains he had seen a tent with some chairs and Thaçi for three days in a row obeying the commanders who were present.

"I have not seen anything in Kosovo that resembled a General Staff. There has been no headquarters for generals in the context of Kosovo. I have never seen a general. I have never seen a General Staff of generals," he said.

The former American diplomat, who is a defense witness, has also answered questions from prosecutors regarding events included in the indictment, but has said several times that he does not remember them.

Prosecutor James Pace asked him about his stance on the Special Court. Rubin said that the trial against Thaçi and others is an injustice.

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"The fact that the defendants have been in prison for more than five years and have surrendered voluntarily and the fact that they have been detained for so long concerns me. I think it is related to politics and the rule of law and I am concerned about the fact that someone should be detained for five years before a criminal case is prosecuted while these people have surrendered voluntarily and have been very cooperative with the court. So in the case of the defendant in question, I do not understand at all why he had to stay in prison for five years," he said.

The former senior adviser to the State Department said he did not see the trial as fair, adding that this was not the vision pursued by his former boss, Madeline Albright, when she helped establish the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.