“Files sent to KLA OVL tend to compromise Special”

Over four thousand Special Court files were left at the door of the KLA War Veterans Organisation's headquarters on Monday this week, by a person reportedly anonymous. Also included are the names and addresses of witnesses and other persons from Serbia, with whom Special Court investigators have collaborated. So at least they claim KLA OVL leaders at a media conference. The contents of these alleged documents are unknown and are not yet known if they are original.

KLA OVL officials also published video footage, where one sees a masked person leaving a package at their door with files inside. Just a day later, special court investigators visited the veterans' offices, and according to the head of this organisation Hyseni Gusati, they handed in copies of the Special Court files to investigators. Officials from the Specialised Chambers and the Specialised Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the files, as they did not confirm if they received all files from KLA's OVL offices.

Danger for Witnesses

Representatives of human rights organisations have reacted immediately. According to them with the publication of the announcement by the KLA OVL that they possess classified files, potential witnesses of judicial processes against former Kosovo Liberation Army members may feel afraid. So said local media Bekim Blakaj, director of the Humanitarian Law Fund in Kosovo. According to him, the very way these documents were presented by KLA OVL officials was implied that the main goal is to fear witnesses”. “From the media conference, the emphasis was placed more on witnesses to let them know who they are and also know their addresses. I believe it was a way to intimidate witnesses, but still to compromise and lower the image in Kosovo, Special Chambers”, Bekim Blakaj says.

Trial case

And an expert on justice cases, Betim Musliu, says this case should be investigated very seriously and if it is confirmed that the files left at the KLA's OVL offices are official documents of the Special Court, then responsible persons should be prosecuted. The “is unacceptable, especially in the fact that it is happening at a time when this court is conducting procedures, there are indictments published by the prosecution, which are being examined and this in itself poses a danger and constitutes a tendency to compromise the whole work of Special Court”, says Betim Musliu.

After interviewing in The Hague, 13.07

On 24 June, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity, against Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Democratic Party of Kosovo Chairman Kadri Veselini, and some others whose names have not been made public. The special prosecutor of “charges”, Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veselin, as responsible “for 100 illegal murders” and crimes presented in the indictment include “hundreds of identified Albanian, Serbian and Kosovo Roma victims and political opponents”. This indictment should be considered “confirmed or rejected” by the judge of the preliminary procedure, Frenchman Nikola Giju. If the indictment is confirmed, then President Thaci has stated that he will resign from the post of president.

Reasons for placing Court in The Hague

The Special Court has its headquarters in The Hague, and its entire staff is international, though it functions on the basis of Kosovo laws. The reason why this court is found in The Hague is precisely the fact that if it was located in Kosovo, according to international officials, “could have feared the perpetrators”, it was said in 2016 in a management communique of the Netherlands government. All this “takes into account that it is about sensitive issues and the fact that some of the suspects, in certain parts of Kosovo society, could be considered freedom fighters”, the communique said.

The Special Court was founded in 2015 at the insistence of the international community, where Kosovo's Assembly adopted constitutional changes for the Court. The idea of establishing the tribunal followed investigations into Council of Europe envoy Dick Marty's claims on the involvement of former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders in war crimes and the post-war in Kosovo. Since 2019, over 200 former Kosovo Liberation Army members have been questioned as suspects and witnesses by specialised Prosecutors. Among those interviewed by the Special Prosecutor as a war crimes suspect was former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.