Lawyer shows how long trial of special KLA leaders can last

They have even asked for additional deadlines and have proposed an 18-month deadline so that they can conduct investigations together with their teams to find excusive evidence.

Lawyer Tome Gashi in an interview for Online Economy says it is unlikely that the judge will make such a decision.

He also said that the prosecution has claimed they have on the case of Hashim Thaci's indictment and others identified as 153 witnesses, but have claimed they could have more than 50 others.

We have not had court hearings so far. We've only had statuteic hearings that discuss the course of judgment preparation for the future that will be and are issues of confrontation between prosecutors and defence lawyers. In this case we had Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselin, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi. The defence has called for additional deadlines and has proposed an 18-month deadline that they can conduct investigations together with their teams to find excusive evidence. And this is an extremely serious case and what's harmful that, according to the prosecution, I would have to stay in the detention measure, and the prosecution has declared that they are afraid that it might have impacts on witnesses, while the rest that have mentioned the risk of running away I am convinced that even they don't believe what they say”.

The judge of the preliminary procedure is the one who has issued warrants for each member of the KLA, and in the current situation it is highly speculating that for a short period of time, special court will allow all accused to be allowed to defend in freedom. The prosecution has claimed they have more witnesses on the case of Hashim Thaqi's indictment and others identified as 153 witnesses, but have claimed they could have even more witnesses than 50. And they have claimed to have 43 thousand written pages that are supporting documents of the indictment, but most of them are not at all translated into Albanian and cannot be used for now”, Gashi added.

Lawyer Gashi also spoke of holding the next session, which will continue in December.

On the other hand, he said the trial against Hashim Thaci and others would not end on all stairs without the 5-year minimum of time being passed.

According to him, one of the main demands of all lawyers is to hand over to them support material because it is missing in Albanian.

Gashi stressed that Kosovo will face the Special Court in the next 10 years.

This court, however harmful to our Albanian nation, is founded by the Kosovo Parliament. But this court has all the cootations of an international court. And procedures are too extensive and procedural. For a long period of time, the court will not issue a decision to release them from the detention measure because, according to them, there is danger in witnesses, and for that reason, the prosecution has proposed to the judge of the preliminary procedure that they will submit concrete requirements to protect the identity of witnesses. We will have the next session, which will be mid-December of this year and then with these status sessions there will continue to be more until the initial positions of judgment are harmonised. And it is known that these judgments last too long and will be” in years.

“I don't believe that the trial against Hashim Thaci and others will end on all stairs without having the minimum period of 5 years. We will face the special court in the next 10 years. One of the main requests of all lawyers has been to hand over to them support material and have no material in Albanian. And the court has promised to impose the prosecution to translate this material into Albanian and be given to members of the KLA as soon as possible. And these cases of extremely serious charges last for years, and this trial of Hashim Thaci and other members will not be concluded before the 5-year period”.