Haradinaj: Establishing charges by the Special is being done to justify funds

Invites from the Specialised Chambers of the Special Court for members of the Kosovo Liberation Army have continued even during February of this year, while the Specialised Prosecutor has announced the head of Kosovo's Specialised Chambers, Ekaterina Trendafilova, that he intends to launch criminal proceedings, as well as has applied for the appointment of a judge of preliminary procedure in accordance with the Law.

One such thing was expected according to the lawyer, the Palushi Objection, while the deputy chairman of the KLA War Veterans Organisation, Nasim Haradinaj, says the establishment of the charges is taking place so that the Court reasons the funds.

Among the more than 250 guests for an interview by the Special Court in The Hague, the last 24 members, two former KLA members, have claimed they will not respond to this court, as they do not recognise it.

The announcement of the initial establishment of the charges according to the lawyer, the Palushi Objection has been expected news, but that even if the indictment arose, he says it spends a long period of time until the charges are confirmed and the accused tried.

The raising of the charges by the Special Prosecutor's Office has been expected news, only time has not been known and to whom they will be raised. Special Prosecutor and Special Court have been created for this purpose, so to investigate, to freeze and confirm the indictment and judge the people charged with crimes which fall into the jurisdiction of these two institutions. No one should be surprised by the establishment of the charges, because for this purpose these two institutions have been established and almost two-year investigations have been conducted to that end. The Pre-Procedure Procedure Judge has up to six months to review the indictment and evidence that accompany the indictment and decide to confirm it in part or to reject the indictment”, Paulushi explained to Telegrafi.

Palushi said that in each circumstance, there is great guarantee that the accused will not face any well-founded acts.

The moment the indictment is confirmed, in part or in all, suspects are officially charged, and from that moment the Special Court Administrator's Office must translate the indictment as confirmed by the Practice Procedure Judge along with all paperwork in Albanian or other languages the accused understands and the same must be handed over to the accused. After accepting the confirmed indictment and the accompanying papers, the accused will still have the opportunity to object to the indictment following the initial review where they will be declared guilty. Under any circumstances, there are major constitutional and legal guarantees that the accused do not face a well-based indictment”, Palushi says.

War Veterans' Organisation deputy head Nasim Haradinaj has said that the number of guests may be over 250 people, but that according to him in their organisation, over 167 persons have now been notified, depending on their will if they want to be notified in the organisation, the people who accept the invitation.

While, according to him, the establishment of charges by the Special Court's prosecution is to justify the funds the Court has received.

The rising of the charges does not cause any panic. We don't have to panic that establishing an indictment doesn't mean you're guilty. The accusations can also be raised on the basis of speculation. She's a political court, of course they have to file an indictment, because she needs to reason on the huge funds they've been through. It is natural to reason with its work, but how the judicial verdict will be concluded it is something else”, Haradinaj told Telegrafi.

Even the lawyer Palushi said there's no room for panic right now.

Until an indictment is confirmed by the Pre-emptive Procedure Judge there is no room for panic among suspects interviewed because by then all suspects still have the status of the suspect, so they are not yet charged. Surely all the persons interviewed have begun preparing for protection, because we remember that they all had and were entitled to a lawyer either under their choice or by lawyers appointed by the administrator and Defence Office”, Palushi says.

And to draw conclusions as to whether there are convicts, Palushi said we should wait until the charges arose.

Until the moment the indictment is confirmed and unconfirmed, and unless we know what deeds the accused are accused of, and on which evidence the indictment is based, we cannot verify or conclude whether anyone will be punished or not. It is important that the accused have the potential for effective legal protection with the Special Court and guarantee you the right to fair and impartial judgment, while all parties, both Special Prosecutor and the accused, will be able to complain to the legal or punitive Act of the first instance”, Palushi explains.

For the special court's number of guests, there is no data, while attorney Palushi says the statistics may not have been made public in order to protect investigations and witnesses.

So far according to rough public data, over 200 people have been interviewed, whether in the quality of the suspect or the witness. Meanwhile, this number may be much larger because we have no data on the number of witnesses or injured persons who may have been interviewed from 2017 onward and which statistics may not have been made public for the purposes of protecting investigations and witnesses”, Palushi said.

On the other hand, it was only during the last 24 hours that three invitations have come from the Special Court. Africa Basha, Faik Zogaj and Fatmir Brajshori have been invited.

Until Africa Basha has issued a statement, Faik Zogaj and Fatmir Brajshori have said they will not respond to this Court's invitation.

Both have said they do not know the Special Court and that they will not appear to be interviewed.