SENSE Tribunal - WITNESS: “BALAJ RAPED ME”

WITNESS: “BALAJ RAPED ME”

Protected witness testifying at the trial of Haradinaj, Balaj and Brahimaj described how she was raped a number of times in the KLA in the village of Rznic in the summer of 1998. The witness failed to identify Balaj on a photo board with eight photos the OTP investigators showed her

Witness 61, a Roma/Egyptian woman, lived in the village of Rznic near Decani with her husband and his parents. The village lived in fear of Toger – nom de guerre used by the second accused Idriz Balaj.

One night in late July 1998, Toger and four soldiers in black uniforms broke into the witness’s family home. They dragged her and her husband out of the bed, she said, and took them to a house in Rznic where the KLA HQ was located. Her husband was soon taken to a well in the courtyard while she was taken to a room where Roger first questioned her about her husband’s alleged collaboration with the Serbian authorities. Then he ordered her to undress and lie on the bed.

He then “did what he wanted” – raped her – several times, while she lay there, silent and trembling. Since she was unable to describe the incident in detail in the courtroom, the prosecutor read out portions of her statement where she said she had been raped at least twice vaginally and once anally. When it was all over, the witness and her husband were released. She learned from her husband that two soldiers had put him down the well and kept him there, up to his waist in water, while she was in the HQ. In the prosecution pre-trial brief it is indicated that he too will testify at the trial of the three former KLA commanders.

When they got home at around 3 a.m., the witness told her household about what had happened. Her father-in-law went to the KLA HQ to complain about Balaj’s conduct. Three KLA commanders came to their house then, the witness said, asking her whether the story her father-in-law had told them was true. When she confirmed it, they told her that Balaj had first denied the rape and finally admitted to it.

Although she said she could not recall what Balaj looked like, adding that she would not recognize him today, she was eventually able to remember that he was dark and short, although taller than her, and that he had “some lumps” on his face. In a brief cross-examination by Balaj’s defense counsel Guy-Smith, the witness confirmed she had been unable to identify Idriz Balaj when she had been shown a photo board with eight photographs including Balaj’s by the OTP investigators in October 2002.

The trial of Ramush Haradinaj, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj continues on Monday.