Thaci's defense writes to the special judge, seeks to dismiss the indictment against him

Thaci's defense has filed a motion to Judge Nicolas Guillou to refute the confirmed indictment, due to lack of jurisdiction.

The defence pretre reportedly charges listed in the indictment include claims against Thaci in the Council of Europe Report on “The inhuman treatment of people and the illegal trafficking of human organs in Kosovo”, compiled by Senator Dick Marty.

According to the statement, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office has exceeded the legally envisioned deadline for conducting criminal investigations under Article 159 of the Penal Procedure Code. The provisional mandate of the Special Court and Prosecutor's Court is also said to have expired on August 3rd. According to the defence, the Special Court has no jurisdiction under Article 12 and 16 (1) of the KSC Law to prosecute Thaci for alleged crimes were committed under a joint criminal enterprise.

Thaci's defence also cites claims in the book of The Hague International Tribunal's former prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, Dick Marty's report, Clinton Williams' statements, and the drafting of constitutional amendment number 24 and the establishment of the Prosecutor and the Special Court.

Williamson's “Determination that his investigation was a full scale <x1 criminal investigation across Kosovo” was reflected in his findings that went beyond allegations of organ trafficking and inhuman treatment at Albania's detention centres, which were the focus of the Marty” report, said in parliament.

The defence says the Kosovo Assembly was aware of the area of Williamson's findings when it drafted constitutional amendment No. 24 for the creation of Specialised Chambers and ZPS.

Instead of adopting the area of the Special Investigative Task Force investigation, the Assembly restored to the jurisdictional field of these new institutions, linking their purpose and existence in Article 162 (1) with compliance with “international obligations regarding [Marty report]”. The debates at the National Assembly on constitutional change confirm that the goal was to limit the jurisdiction of the Specialised Chambers in the Marty Report and limit the life of the Specialised Chambers to five years”, the motion said.

The defence claims the indictment has been compiled, ignoring restrictions imposed by the Constitution.

As support for the preemptive claims, the defence also mentions the term “joint criminal enterprise”. Under defence, the joint criminal enterprise is not included in the Special Court statute.

“While co-ordination is really a form of responsibility of “commission”, the SPS has provided no excuse for its support in the joint criminal enterprise in charging the accused”, said in the parliament.

The defence requires special judges to enforce Kosovo's customary international law and criminal materials, arguing that this “joint criminal enterprise” does not enjoy the status of international customary law at the time of the cases of crime detained in the indictment.

The four former political and military leaders of the KLA, former President Hashim Thaci, former leaders Kadri Veselin and Jakup Krasniqi, as well as the head of the Vetevendosje Movement Parliamentary Group (LVV), Rexhep Selimi were arrested and taken to Special custody in The Hague at the beginning of November last year.

The arrests came after a Special Court preliminary procedure judge had confirmed the charges against four former KLA leaders. They are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The incident holds Thaci, Veselin, Krasniqi and Selimi responsible for a series of crimes allegedly committed at several detention centres during 1998-1999. The specialized prosecutor accuses them of being or should be aware of such crimes.