Kosovo Minister Defends UNMIK Chief

Pristina _ A Kosovo government minister has appealed to local media for fair treatment for the deputy head of the UN mission in Kosovo, who is facing an internal investigation for alleged misconduct.

Ardian Gjini, Kosovo’s Minister of Environment, reacted on Friday to the harsh media coverage that followed an announcement by Steven Schook that he was under investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, OIOS.

“People are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court. This is a right that is supposed to be defended first and foremost by civil society”, said Gjini in a reaction published in the daily, Express.

“You have made a mistake with Mr Steven Schook… with your prejudices”, Gjini told the media with reference to the American official who is number two in the UN administration in Kosovo, UNMIK.

Gjini’s intervention was addressed to the print media in particular, for their unsympathetic coverage in Thursday’s editions while reporting on Schook’s news conference at which he revealed he was facing an investigation.

“Shameful end of UNMIK” was the front-page headline in Express.

Investigators have released no details of the allegations against Schook.

However, Schook said “the probe pertains to my alleged aggressive behaviour, unprofessional and close relationships with Energy Minister Ethem Ceku and former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, and extends to personal relationships I supposedly had with some women from Kosovo and those working with the UNMIK mission.”

Haradinaj resigned as prime minister in March 2005 after he was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

It is believed that the allegations with regard to Ceku are linked to the planned construction of the “Kosovo C” power plant.

Kosovo has been administered by the UN since 1999 when NATO’s air campaign forced the Serbian authorities to withdraw from the territory.

UNMIK’s staff enjoy immunity from prosecution under the local justice system in Kosovo.

The OIOS has previously investigated UNMIK’s police mission, and founded that the administration was incapable of fighting corruption in Kosovo’s public institutions.

However, this is the first time that a senior UN official is being investigated in Kosovo. (BIRN)