Outgoing Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj says he is resigning from office to avoid any damage to Kosovo's statehood in the wake of his designation as a suspect by a court based in The Hague. "I could not take the entire state in front of the investigation," Haradinaj told RFE/RL in Pristina on July 22, three days after he announced his resignation. Haradinaj has been summoned by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office, The Hague-based court pursuing crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo War. The Kosovar Albanian leader was already acquitted of war-related charges in 2008 and again in 2012.
