Ramush Haradinaj is a Kosovo Albanian politician, leader of the AAK party, and the third prime minister of Kosovo.
49 Facts About Ramush Haradinaj
2.
Ramush Haradinaj is a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and previously served as Prime Minister of Kosovo between 2004 and 2005.
3.
Ramush Haradinaj was acquitted of all charges on 3 April 2008.
4.
Ramush Haradinaj was born on 3 July 1968, as the second of nine children, in the village of Glloxhan, near Decan, in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia.
5.
Ramush Haradinaj spent his youth in his native village with his parents and siblings, and completed primary school in Rznic and secondary school in Decani and Gjakova.
6.
Ramush Haradinaj earned a master's degree in business from the American University in Kosovo, which is associated with the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
7.
In 1989, using a false name, Ramush Haradinaj emigrated to Leysin, Switzerland.
8.
Ramush Haradinaj worked there for eight years as a construction worker, security guard, and a bouncer in a nightclub.
9.
In Switzerland, Ramush Haradinaj joined the Albanian nationalist organization "People's Movement of Kosovo", from which the KLA originated; this organization wanted to separate Kosovo from Yugoslavia through armed struggle.
10.
The Ramush Haradinaj family was aware of the previous attacks in Drenice and defended the village.
11.
Ramush Haradinaj survived by packing his wound with cheese he found in the room where he took cover.
12.
Ramush Haradinaj established himself as a commander during heavy fighting in his area.
13.
Ramush Haradinaj retired from the KPC on 11 April 2000, and announced that he was entering politics.
14.
Ramush Haradinaj appeared to form a close and productive working relationship with Ibrahim Rugova and other senior figures in the LDK.
15.
In February 2009 the Ugandan Muslim rebel group Allied Democratic Forces asked Ramush Haradinaj to mediate peace talks with the central government in Kampala.
16.
Ramush Haradinaj served 100 days as Prime Minister in 2005 before being indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, at The Hague.
17.
Ramush Haradinaj was acquitted on 3 April 2008, because of lack of convincing evidence.
18.
The prosecution argued that although Mr Ramush Haradinaj posed no threat to witnesses, his mere presence in Kosovo could have a "chilling" effect on whether witnesses would testify.
19.
On 26 February 2007 Ramush Haradinaj was flown back to Hague so that the trial could proceed.
20.
Ramush Haradinaj claimed that it was difficult to find witnesses who were willing to testify not just to the prosecutors, but for the tribunal.
21.
Ramush Haradinaj was granted a second exceptional provisional release over the Christmas court recess.
22.
Ramush Haradinaj's name was Kujtim Berisha and his death has been used as evidence that witnesses were killed.
23.
Serbian media claimed that Ramush Haradinaj's acquittal was based on the "mafia style killing of witnesses".
24.
Ramush Haradinaj's statement was later echoed and reaffirmed by the ICTY Trial Chamber itself which commented that no witnesses in the protected witness program were killed during the initial trial.
25.
Ramush Haradinaj claimed that potential ICTY witnesses had been murdered in 2011.
26.
Ramush Haradinaj was represented again by Ben Emmerson QC, Rodney Dixon QC and Andrew Strong.
27.
On 29 November 2012, Ramush Haradinaj was acquitted a second time.
28.
The central allegation against Ramush Haradinaj was that he participated in a criminal plan to persecute civilians.
29.
Ramush Haradinaj stated that he felt increasing pressure to bring the case despite an acute lack of evidence.
30.
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC commented that the pressure to bring the case against Ramush Haradinaj stemmed from the lead Prosecutor at the time, Carla Del Ponte and he speculated that she wanted to use the indictment against Haradinaj as a "coin" to trade with Belgrade in order to convince the Serbian Government to hand over its high-profile war criminal fugitives, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
31.
In June 2015 Ramush Haradinaj was arrested by Slovene police but was released after two days following diplomatic pressure.
32.
On 5 January 2017 Ramush Haradinaj was arrested on a Serbian arrest warrant by French border police upon his arrival at EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg on a flight from Pristina.
33.
On 27 April 2017, a French court turned down a Serbian request to extradite Ramush Haradinaj and released him.
34.
Ramush Haradinaj's government consisted of a coalition, named the PANA Coalition.
35.
In 2018, after Kosovo president Hashim Thaci and Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic expressed support for a land swap between Kosovo and Serbia, Ramush Haradinaj stated that any change of the Kosovo border with Serbia would lead to war.
36.
On Friday, Ramush Haradinaj visited Durres to survey the damage and expressed Kosovan commitment to relief efforts.
37.
Albanian PM Edi Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative.
38.
On 19 July 2019, Ramush Haradinaj resigned after being summoned for questioning by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague.
39.
Ramush Haradinaj said that he "could not be Kosovo's prime minister and a suspect at the same time".
40.
On 12 August 2020, Ramush Haradinaj announced that he would run for president.
41.
On Facebook, Ramush Haradinaj said he felt honoured by the party's decision to entrust him with this goal.
42.
In 2021, Ramush Haradinaj stated that the EU might drive Kosovo to unite with Albania.
43.
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic commented that Ramush Haradinaj's statement is "a threat to the whole region" and that Serbia would have an adequate answer to such actions.
44.
In spring 2000, Ramush Haradinaj was involved in a fist fight with Russian soldiers at a KFOR checkpoint, and later that year was involved in a shootout in Strellc with members of the Musaj family, which was covered up by US officials of Camp Bondsteel.
45.
Ramush Haradinaj was injured, and sent by a US helicopter to Germany, while the location, long from US area of responsibility, was cleansed of evidence.
46.
Ramush Haradinaj's ancestors originated from Iballe, Puke in Northern Albania, who later then migrated to Kosovo His father, mother and remaining family member still reside in the family home in the community of Glodjane.
47.
Ramush Haradinaj is currently married to the RTK news reporter Anita Haradinaj; they have three young children, two boys and one girl.
48.
Ramush Haradinaj, a citizen of Albania, is an Albanian patriot and nationalist, and has called for further intensification of relations between the two countries.
49.
Ramush Haradinaj speaks Serbian, having used it in interviews and speeches to the Kosovo Serb community, according to himself, to "show respect".