THE UN Yugoslav war crimes court has acquitted Kosovo's ex-prime minister Ramush Haradinaj and two aides in a retrial on charges of murder and torture during the 1990s war of independence from Belgrade.
"The chamber finds you not guilty on all counts in the indictment," Judge Bakone Justice Moloto told the Hague-based court on Thursday, ordering the men released in a decision that is certain to enrage Belgrade.
The court's public gallery erupted in cries of joy as the acquittals were announced.
Haradinaj, 44 and Idriz Balaj, 41, were being retried on six war-crime charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for allegedly murdering and torturing Serbs and non-Albanians during the 1998-99 war.
The third accused, Lahi Brahimaj, 42, faced four counts for his role in the fight between independence-seeking ethnic Albanian guerrillas and the Belgrade forces of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
The proceedings were broadcast live on a giant screen in the Kosovo capital Pristina, where the news was met by celebration. Haradinaj is considered a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority who had high hopes of an acquittal.
Prosecutors accused the three men of murdering and torturing Serbs and suspected collaborators against the separatist KLA and had demanded at least 20 years prison for all three men.
But judges found that the accused had not taken part in a "joint criminal enterprise" to cleanse the area of ethnic Serbs, and that some witness testimony was unreliable.
Moloto said that one witness may not have been in the Jablanica detention camp where alleged abuses took place and "may have told what he heard from others."
Following one incident of abuse "a KLA soldier apologised for the incident and blamed it on extremist groups within the KLA," the judge said.
"There is no credible evidence that Haradinaj was even aware of the crimes committed at Jablanica," Moloto said.
An acquittal is almost certain to be perceived by Serbia as a new slap in the face after the court earlier this month acquitted Croatian General Ante Gotovina of war crimes against Serbs.
The most senior Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders to be tried, Haradinaj as well as Balaj, his lieutenant and commander of the feared "Black Eagles" unit, were acquitted in April 2008 on 37 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Brahimaj was convicted of torture and sentenced to six years in jail.
Judges however ordered the court's first-ever partial retrial for all three after UN prosecutors appealed the acquittal and Brahimaj's sentence.
Appeals judges said the ICTY's trial chamber "seriously erred in failing to take adequate measures to secure the testimony of certain witnesses" during the original 10-month trial.
Haradinaj is now likely to continue his political career in Kosovo and is expected to run again for prime minister.
However, he is still considered a war criminal by Belgrade and an arrest warrant has been issued against him by Serbia's war crimes prosecutor for his alleged crimes.
In one of the most brutal episodes of the Balkans conflicts in the 1990s, more than 10,000 people died in the fighting.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade fiercely opposes its international recognition.
In Pristina, Kosovo erupted in joy on Thursday as hundreds of ethnic Albanians celebrated the acquittal of former prime minister and rebel chief Ramush Haradinaj of charges of war crimes during the 1990s conflict.
Fireworks erupted throughout the capital Pristina as the verdict was announced in The Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal.
"Kosovo has expected such a decision, Kosovo needs him," said economist Maria Haradinaj, not related to the former prime minister.
Said Shpetim Felmanaj, a former rebel fighter: "We are awaiting his return with joy to lead Kosovo".
Belgrade slammed the verdict - which came after the court in The Hague two weeks ago acquitted Croatian General Ante Gotovina of war crimes against Serbs - as legalising "Mafia rule" because of the alleged witness intimidation.
"The Hague tribunal has legalised Mafia rule in Kosovo, above all, the omerta, the law of silence which still prevails and is stronger than any crime," government spokesman Milivoje Mihajlovic told AFP.
Senior Serbian officials had warned that should Haradinaj walk, EU-sponsored talks between Pristina and Belgrade - which still considers Kosovo to be part of Serbia - could be jeopardised.
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