Publicizing spending on protecting indictees at The Hague who was pro or who against

Publishing of spending figures to protect the accused at The Hague is being rejected by the Kosovo Liberation Army Veterans' Organisation. But this action by the Ministry of Justice from civil society is being considered an appropriate action, as they estimate that every cent of Kosovo's budget should be transparent to the public.

OVL-KLA Chairman Faton Klink's duty to head Faton Klinku, which allows publicisation of separate means for any lawyer who defends the accused at the Special Court, is considering it a bad act and which could harm defence.

Klink says the publication of expenses for each defence attorney could be made when the entire judicial process was completed.

They didn't do well. We have different experiences, and we have Croatia's case that spending has done it after the process ends. We think it doesn't go well on defense, it can harm protection because when it's known who or how many lawyers they take, of course more is mobilized because the prosecution intends to find the blame even when they're nothing illegal, it's nothing illegal, it's not everything that's been done, and any fee that's been made, it's done under the law that the institutions themselves have voted and it seems unreasonable because they could publish the process after the end of the”, Klinaku said.

But a different opinion with Klink shares the executive director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, Ehat Miftaraj, who says of Kosova Prees, that publishing figures for any lawyer who defends the accused at The Hague does not hurt defence at all.

“On the basis of the Constitution and on the basis of Kosovo laws any means that is public, public spending should be transparent and the public should be informed about how public money is spent. On the other hand, we like the IKD do not see that under any circumstances we can damage the defence strategy to publish these data because primarily hearings in The Hague over charges against the accused are public defence lawyers should build a strategy that with evidence and against arguments contradict the prosecution's arguments at The Hague“, he said.

The lawyer accredited by The Hague Specialised Chambers, Artan Cerkini, claims that public spending related to the protection of the accused in Specialised Chambers should be taken case by case.

Cherkini claims that some of the expenses can be published, but not the part that should be confidential because of the procedure.

Anything paid from Kosovo's budget should be transparent, but let's not forget that court procedures, especially those of the Special Court, have their specifics. So, basically, it has to be made public, but spending and making public decisions about protecting the accused in the Special Chambers should be taken at random because in some cases the cost itself has been made to demonstrate the action that has been undertaken and sometimes protection wants them to keep secret until a certain phase of procedure. If we're dealing with such cases, I think publication of expenses will harm the defense should be seen case by case... Part of the expenditures could be published, but part due to the privacy of the procedure should not be published”, he said.

Over a million and 500 thousand euros have been granted so far by the state of Kosovo to pay the lawyers of those charged by the Special Court. These figures were released last week by the Ministry of Justice, after the decision was made to declassify these documents.

This list of expenses leads Hysni Gucati's lawyer, Jonathan Rees. The executed payment for it is 315 thousand euros. Following him, according to the amount of spending is the defence of Rexhep Selimi, the former KLA commander who is being tried in the “Thaci subject and others”.

Selimi's lawyer, David Young, has been paid by the state for 287 thousand euros. While a considerable amount of money has been given to protect former KLA member Sali Mustafa. For his defence, Dutch von Bone under this board from the state budget has been executed over 271 thousand euros.

Meanwhile, a large figure is shared by one of the lawyers protecting former President Thaci at the Special Court. One of the three lawyers of the former head of state defense team, Pierre R. Prosper, so far, has been paid over 251 thousand euros. The amount that for half a year has been earmarked for Jakup Krasniqi's lawyer is for over 242 thousand euros.

At least one of these data has been paid off by one of the three defenders of former SHIK chief Ben Emmerson. Briton Ben Emmerson, who is protecting Kadri Veseli, has been paid more than 31 thousand euros. So far 1,114,257,35 euros have been approved, while the defence mentioned above has withdrawn 464,600 thousand euros from the account.

In November last year, the four former KLA political and military leaders -- former President Hashim Thaci, former Prime Ministers Kadri Veselin and Jakup Krasniqi -- as well as the head of the Vetvendosje Movement parliamentary group, Rexhep Selimi were arrested at the Special Order.

On November 4th, former spokeswoman KLA, Jakup Krasniqi, was arrested and sent to the detention of this court. To the same destination, on a military plane, former war associates Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini and Rexhep Selimi left the following day.

Apart from former KLA leaders in custody at The Hague, former OVL-KLA leaders, Hysni Gucat and Nasim Haradinaj, as well as former commander-in-chief KLA, Sali Mustafa.

Publishing of expenditures for lawyers protecting the accused at The Hague was banned with an administrative guide from former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.