Evidence provided in court by case indictees “Veterians”

In this case, for misuse of official position or authority are being charged, former Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku, former Defence Minister Rrustem Berisha, MP Shkumbin Demalijaj, Nuredin Lushtaku, Sadik Halitjaha, Qele Gashi, Shukri Buja, Ahmet Daku, Faik Fazliu, Smajl Elezaj, Fadil Shudaj, and Jaitri, reports <x0Betim for Justice”

They are being accused of being part of the Government Commission for the recognition and Verification of the Status of the Nation's Witness, Invaledit, veterani, Partitarian and the KLA War Interview.

The questioning of Ceku, Demalaj and others was prohibited from being published in the media by the tribunal, with the argument that publishing their defence before all accused can provide protection would damage the judicial process.

And after Thursday the defense of all indictees in this case has ended, even this court ban on not publishing statements of the accused in court has ceased to be worthwhile.

Former Prime Minister Agim Ceku has been the first to provide his own protection. The same, defense started in the form of an exhibition, so there were no questions originally from his lawyer, Ram Gashi. This has been rejected by special prosecutor Valdet Gashi, arguing that the lawyer must first pose his defense questions.

But protection is thus permitted by the chairman of the court, Nushe Kuka-Mekaj.

And during his defence delivery, Ceku has said he had come to the helm of the Commission to verify categories that emerged from the war, after former leader Azem Syla had resigned.

Ceku has indicated that the goal this Commission had had been to put to an exact number of all war categories. Initially, Ceku said that nearly 80 thousand apps had come from persons claiming to belong to one of the war categories.

I admit that for other members, this number has been suddenly that such a large number think they deserve such status. Here begins my difficulties and dilemmas as chairman of the Commission on how to complete this very volume-like process”, Ceku has said.

Ceku has also said that the Commission in question had 16 members, while only 12.

We've worked together, we've done the job together as those of us who are not accused today. I've heard all the witnesses and prosecution claims, and I haven't been able to know the reason why someone is being accused of being saved”, Ceku declared.

During his defence, Ceku has said the entire process has lasted about four and a half years, since the Commission had been aiming for work to be done slowly and well, adding that for the verification of a brigade, the entire chain of that brigade had been called.

As for the disappointments manifested during the process, Ceku has said some commanders had complained that not all members of the Commission are observing the criteria the same as the law envisions, but, according to him, there had never been any concrete complaint.

I have had phone calls or people on the street who have complained about some irregularities, and I have also told the commission members. There was no intention or intention of increasing the number, but our goal has been to come to the exact number”, Ceku said.

Also, Ceku has added that the prosecution had wrongly understood the definition of warrior veteran.

The procedure wrongly understands the definition of warrior veteran and KLA member. For the sake of illustration, there have been several members of the group “Mother Teresa” who have sent relief supplies and were several of my fellow countrymen in Zagreb, Croatia, who have sent a relief truck and these are members of the KLA. These men have received duties and requests from the commanders what they need. All aid has been delivered to the chief of logistics, who has been armed and uniformed”, Ceku has said.

Similarly, Ceku has denied the prosecution's charges even for the phase of complaints that had been made in the Commission, as according to him, the Commission for verifying war categories had formed a commission of complaints and drafted a regulation, but the same had not expected the large number of complaints that had come, which according to Ceku, had been about 30,000.

Ceku during his defence has also provided clarification concerning the failure to sign the third page of apps, reports the “Bet on Justice”.

The procedure claims that we didn't knowingly sign the third page of the app. The application was the first step we took, and it was the original idea to sign the third page. After we've adopted the methodology of work where each commander is responsible for the final list of veterans who will hand him over to the Commission, they signed a declaration that takes responsibility both legal and moral that this list is correct and stands behind that list. We've all agreed on the Commission that each command is accountable only for its own area. After this agreement, then it has been unnecessary for the commander of the fifth zone to sign for an applicant in the first area” to clarify Ceku.

Responding to questions from prosecutor Gashi, what had been the purpose of signing the chain command on the second page of the app, Ceku has responded by saying such a thing had been done to prove to three degrees that the applicant deserves status.

Prosecutor Gashi has also asked Ceku for the reason for the resignation of a member of the Commission, without specifying who, where Ceku has responded that this had happened because of the failure to reconcile the methodology of reviewing complaints.

Prosecutor Valdet Gashi, accused Ceku, has also presented an app to an app, asking him how he would assess the same. Regarding it, Ceku has replied that based on information on the app, the same would be classified as a member of the KLA.

“How is it possible that this is already veteran warrior and earns pension as such?”, has been the reaction of prosecutor Gashi, with Ceku responding saying that “who benefits and what benefits is the government's issue, not the” Commission.

Responding to the court member's questions, Kujtim Krasniqi, whether he had been satisfied with the prosperity of the entire vetting process, Ceku has responded by saying that the number of veterans who had appeared had been greater than they had expected, but according to him, the number of 46 thousand of 230 veterans is very accurate.

Judge Krasniqi also confronted Ceku with a response he had given to the prosecutor, where he had stated that if he had been able to start the process from the beginning, he would refuse to become such a part of the change of trust in the public regarding the process.

In this regard, Ceku has said that all at first, only about 11,000 veterans were declared unemployed, and the idea had been to help them.

I'm disappointed that many of my fellow fighters have taken different actions with uninhibited pension benefits, left jobs, closed businesses and other things. I have no action from a warrior. The blame that the government has issued a very flexible administrative decision” has declared Ceku.

When the head of the court, Nushe Kuka-Mekaj, asked him about a statement he had made during a Commission meeting, where he said the number of veterans was enorm, but since it's a short time, then let each carry the responsibility for his own area, where Ceku responded by saying the number he's out is greater than they have expected, adding that he had said that “this going back, let the government decide what with bo”

Similarly, Ceku has denied there has been political agreement over the number of veterans.

The other indictee in this case, Shumbin Demalij, during his defence granting the Commission had come after the former commander of the Dukagjin Zone, Ramush Haradinaj, had been facing trial at The Hague tribunal.

Explaining the way the verification had gone, Demalijaj said that each member had shared the tasks based on the operational zone where they came from and along with the chain of command had verified the apps and, according to them, the status of applicants was determined from the chain of command.

At the time, Demalijaj said there had been two war categories field laws, and two of them were taken into account during app verification.

When his defender, lawyer Arian Koci, has been asked whether logistics in the category of warrior veteran enter, Demaliyaj has responded by taking the example of Luan Haradinaj, who he said was commander for logistics.

“We have a national Kosovo hero who is Luan Haradinaj. His task at the moment of battle has been commander for logistics within the general staff. If Luan Haradinaj was not a KLA fighter then there was no KLA”, Demalij answered.

As far as not signing the third page of apps, Demaliyaj has said that the Government had banned the Commission's work without completing the entire process and having been around 120 thousand apps, Demalijaj has declared they had no time to sign.

As for complaints that were exercised by disgruntled applicants, Demaliyaj has said the prosecution does not have any such documents, while added that no one had been willing to review the complaints of soldiers of another operational zone.

After answering Koci's questions, the latter has said that Demalijaj will be quietly protected from now on, but despite that, the accused agreed to answer questions from other parties.

After the special prosecutor, Enver Krasniqi, introduced the accused demaliyay an app of the Dukagjini Zone, where, as he had said, it is evident that the time of completing the KLA service has been 9 September 1998, Demilay replied that the same applicant has been classified as “partial”, since it was not part of any brigade and has not served until the end.

In spite of that, prosecutor Krasniqi has said the same applicant figures as a veteran fighter, reports “Justice Trust”.

Likewise, prosecutor Krasniqi introduced Demalija also to an app of a person from the Dukagjini Zone who figures as a fighter veteran and retires as such, despite what he said, the same man from July 16th 1998 to March 27th 2001 had been imprisoned in Serbia.

In this regard, Demalijaj has said that the same has been recognised as an exile in the war, adding that this classification was done by the chain of command.

Demalijaj was confronted by Judge Kujtim Krasniqi even with a statement he had issued at the 27th meeting of the Commission, where he had stated among other things that “for all those who were not fighters and who entered the list should have been sent to prison but should have known that they have introduced the entire diaspora of half of Albania, where there is no breath, and we have also helped fellow fighters who have not been until the end of<1>, asking him to ask what he thought with this statement.

“Debati has been in the Commission regarding the number, there I have shown disappointment that even a part that has been part of the “Vendtime fund calls” and will be brigades that have been in Albania that have been mobilised and at no moment have entered Kosovo and recognised the status, that has been my disappointment because it could be equal to someone who has never been at war with those who have been in the course of”, Demaliyay answered.

Demalijaj has also been asked by the judge about a political agreement he had posted to the prosecutor, but according to the accused, this political agreement concerned the adoption of law no. 04/L -261 for KLA war veterans.

During the interrogation of accused Demalij, the chairman of the court, Nushe Kuka-Mekaj, took a warning to Koci's attorney because, as he said, his continued interventions.

The other indictee in this case, Sadik Halitijaha, during his defence hearing at October 14, 2020, has declared that the Commission, which had been part of it, had acted on the basis of two laws regulating this area and that no one had defended each other. The decisions in the Commission, Halitijaha, have said they were taken by majority votes, even though sometimes they had not voted but had only been taken a stand by the Commission.

The noise of the media and analysts has enabled this process to turn into a circle. I suspect prosecutor Blakaj who defected from this process has after a goal of asylum or being pushed by someone else, I don't know. I don't know if anyone's been dancing”, he said during his defense, Halitijaha.

Halitijaha has been asked by prosecutor Valdet Gashi, whether there has been disappointment over the implementation of criteria during the verification, with the accused who had said there were, but in those cases decisions have been made by majority of votes.

During the confrontation with several statements by accused Halijaha in the prosecution, the court noted that those proceedings of interrogation were not signed by the prosecutor, saying they would make a decision on the case later.

While the accused, Nuredin Lushtaku, Qele Gashi, Smajl Elezaj, Xhavit Jashari and Fadil Shudaj, were quietly protected. The latter has been virtually attending all sessions because of health causes.

Otherwise, the Constitutional Court in Pristina, on June 19, 2019, had confirmed the indictment, while the Court of Appeals had confirmed that ruling in August of this year.

With the SPRK indictment, it was also required that the Constitutional Court in Pristina be commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Management (MPMS) to suspend payment of pensions for 19,500 veterans until the outcome of the judicial process.

But, on April 1, 2019, the court had rejected this request, arguing that the proposal for provisional measures is not against the accused, but against the MPMS as the third party.

According to the indictment prepared by former special prosecutor Elez Blakaj, the people involved are charged that between 2011 and 2017, acting as members of the Government Commission for recognition and Verification of the Status of the Nation's Witness, Invaledit, Veteran, Partitor and Intervent of the Kosovo Liberation Army War, have used the duty and official authority, passing over competencies and failing to fulfill the official duties, in order to benefit other persons illegally, in order to continue, at the damage to the budget of the Republic of Kosovo.

This indictment includes 12 persons who are charged with criminal work “misusing official position or authority”.

As had been reported by “Justice Trust”, the list of accused persons led Agim Ceku, followed by Nuredin Lushtiu, Sadik Halitijaha, Shumbin Demalijaj, Qele Gashi, Shukri Buja, Ahmet Daku, Rrustem Berisha, Faik Fazliu, Smajl Elezaj, Fadil Shudaj and Xavit Jashar.

The PSRK, too, had proposed to this court that it should release the measure to prevent the payment of illegally acquired pensions as KLA veteran fighters, until the end of the criminal procedure.

In addition, according to the SPRK, evidence provided so far has proved that illegal payments to KLA war veterans has been damaged in many of the Republic of Kosovo's 68,153,533.14 euros.

While, with the indictment handed down to the court on December 7th 2018, it is claimed that the Republic of Kosovo budget has been damaged in many of the 88.769,217.04 euros.