A UN war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands has acquitted the former prime minister of Kosovo and two of his former Kosovo Liberation Army comrades for the second time on charges of murdering and torturing Serbs and their supporters in Kosovo's war for independence, Belfast Telegraph reported.
The verdicts came in The Hague court's first ever retrial, which was ordered after appeals judges branded the 2008 acquittal of former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj and KLA fighter Idriz Balaj and the conviction of a third KLA commander, Lahi Brahimaj, a "miscarriage of justice" because of widespread intimidation of prosecution witnesses.
The acquittal clears the way for a possible return to the political scene for Mr Haradinaj, seen before his 2005 indictment as a unifying force in deeply divided Kosovo.
The three men are expected to be released later and flown home to Kosovo.
Judge Moloto said Serbs and their suspected supporters were beaten at a KLA compound in Kosovo and at least one of them died of his injuries. However, he said there was no evidence that Mr Haradinaj was involved in the attacks or was part of a criminal conspiracy to mistreat civilians as a way of consolidating KLA control of part of Kosovo.
Mr Haradinaj quit as Kosovo's prime minister in 2005 after just 100 days in office when his indictment was announced by the tribunal, but he remains popular at home.
