Top Special Witnesses outside Kosovo

“Anyone trying to intimidate witnesses or try to pressure judges will be prosecuted immediately. The investigation will follow, and we will not hesitate to implement the” law, Trendafilova has expressed itself. But in terms of these statements, lawyer Tome Gashi in a pronomination to the newspaper “Bota today” says it cannot issue other statements, as it protects the institution it represents. But, according to him, this court, although legal, is not fair, since it judges only Albanians and not Serbs, who have been at war between themselves.

“Of course, the head of the Special Court cannot give a statement other than what has given him that there will be fair, impartial and legal judgments. The one in whose quality it is and has a legal obligation to protect the Special Court institution, which it represents. I believe that since the formation of the special court, nothing is fair, even though it is legal, because the deputies of the Kosovo Parliament have voted the special court, because so far there is no court anywhere in the world which will judge only one epitice in war cases where at least two sides have participated, one has been Serb and the other”, Gashi has said. The lawyer mentions that the Special is also named racist because of the judgment of only one side and that it remains to be seen whether it will be right, since with UNMIK and EULEX, Kosovo has not had good experience for the judgments that have been made.

“Of course it has stated any eventual pressure, which pressure on judges and witnesses is a special criminal act and will not be reluctant to prosecute persons who will try to test for witnesses. Whatever it is, it is a formal statement, and we actually have a tendency, given our experience from UNMIK, to EULEX, which has never been strictly correct judgments, but the Special Court is one that will judge only one party, on national grounds that is often being named a racist court, since it has granted immunity to the Serb side, while it will judge only Albanians. While whether it will be fair, legal, it remains to be seen, of course, but I as a lawyer certainly trust the Special Court Speaker's statement, but under Kosovo's circumstances so far has proved extremely desirable to have fair and impartial judgments”, estimates Tome Gashi.

Witnesses are outside Kosovo?

As for witness protection, the lawyer says they, due to security, may be out of Kosovo earlier.

I believe that by now the main witnesses alone are safe and a part of them may be out of Kosovo's territory early, but certainly they will not be created or allowed in any way for witnesses to be afraid, threatened, blackmailed or offered material assistance for changing their statements. We are now ahead of the special court's work, and since two and a half years have passed since the Special Court law was issued and over 15 years have passed that we in Kosovo have international institutions of justice like UNMIK and EULEX, I believe also that The Hague Tributal's experience for the former Yugoslavia, I believe all logistical, legal conditions have been met and it is a specific experience for witnesses to be effectively protected, which should also be”, attorney Tom Gashi has declared.

The witness protection office, lawyer Adrian Yoshi, says the special office has been established for witness protection and remains to be seen how much they will be supported in practice.

Showing the sensitivity and importance of witness testimony, under the Administrative Office of Special Chambers, has created a special office for the protection and support of the Witnesses, which envisions the protection of witnesses including security, physical and psychological well-being, their dignity and privacy, the development of closed-door procedures, the presentation of electronic or other means. It remains to be seen how much witnesses can be protected and supported in practice. Witnesses are the principal part of the criminal procedure to be conducted by Special Court”, he has indicated.

As for the justice of this judgment, Josh is pessimistic.

As far as the Special Court can bring, I'm not very optimistic that the Special Court will illuminate the whole truth. Thus, because the main mass of special acts will be the “report of Dick Marty”, a report that thoroughly analyses and reports of individual fighters and KLA leaders, charging that they have violated/overstepped international laws and customs of war”, has continued further.
According to Josh, the Special may be selective and therefore give reasons.
The Special Court can be selective by following the Albanians alone (or by large). This could happen for two reasons: the first, because of Dick Marty's report, which is biased and selective; and second, if the War Crimes Department is not activated under Kosovo's special prosecution, sending evidence, evidence and evidence that would testify beyond any doubt the crimes committed by Serbs in Kosovo”, attorney Adrian Djoshi has said.

The special court's only hope under the other side, political affairs analyst Skender Zogaj in a pronomination to the newspaper “Bota today”, has said that the Special Court has remained the only hope of whitening many cases, but that as long as it can be impartial, it is expected to be seen.

Kosovo's “honest people have lost hope of the failure of local justice, which, not only has it not fought crime and corruption, but has become the defender of numerous criminals and perpetrators who have overwhelmed Kosovo's freedom and independence and who are stitching the state of Kosovo! In this situation, the only hope remains the Special Court, for which I think it will try to ensure fair and impartial judgment for the accused! So it will try, but how many will it achieve remains to be seen, because Kosovo's criminals are known to be very strong and they have enormous wealth, they will not sit back, but they will roll every stone to prevent the work of Judge”, he has declared.

According to Zogaj, witnesses are endangered and there is no optimism from previous experiences that will be safe.

I know that they will not lack success, because 20 years have passed, and people on the side of the victims have been relieved of pain because they are afraid that they can have new consequences, so they think it's better with silence! I also see witnesses here that are not easy to testify, that they are endangered! The court is saying it has taken all the safeguards, but previous experiences are not very optimistic”, Skender Zogaj has said.

The special will deal with the judgments of alleged war crimes cases by several former Kosovo Liberation Army members.