Special Court That Denies Thaci Seven Months and Others of Family Visits

On the other hand, the Special Court has denied that there is a lack of communication between the accused and their families.

From the Periscope Special, they say that all accused men have the means to communicate with family members.

The maintenance management unit ensures that all the people kept will have the means to have personal relations with family members and others while they are in custody through phone calls, visits [of, video visits] and correspondence. In order to ensure meaningful contact, the registry has authorized videos to ensure that the detainees have additional tools to keep in touch with the family. In addition, to facilitate further contact, a reasonable number of phone calls are financed by the KSC registry”, the Special Court said.
Regarding this concern of family members of former KLA leaders, the Council for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms has also been announced, who have told Periscope that the Special Court should create more opportunities for the detainees to communicate more often with their families.

“We also have in KMDLNj remarks and complaints by family members for lack of communication with their detained members at The Hague recently, while family visits, but also lawyers, due to the pandemic caused by COVID 19 are prohibited for all prisoners. We have information that Kosovo citizens who are detained at The Hague have received the vaccine, so one should see an opportunity for family members to be vaccinated as soon as possible so that they have the right to make visits. KMDLNj thinks that specialised rooms that, because of objective reasons have stopped visits, should create opportunities for detainees to contact their families more often over the phone. We have a situation when Special Chambers claim that the number of phone conversations with family members has increased, while family claims otherwise”, KMDLNJ director Behxhet Shala said.

On the other hand, Shala has said that the Special should compensate for the lost visits of family members because of the situation that has been created with the David-19 pandemic.

However, according to information found in Periscopi, the visits of family inmates in other prisons in the Netherlands are not forbidden, but they are allowed to respect antiCondavid measures. Also, visits by prisoners from their family are not prohibited in Kosovo.

Furthermore, according to official reports, over 270 citizens of all EU countries are employed as official staff of Specialised Chambers and the Specialised Prosecutor's Office, who each day have contact with their family and around society, with the possibility of infection, but these strict measures are practiced only for the detainees, not even for their staff.

Former KLA leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi are being accused of war crimes by Kosovo's Specialised Chambers with headquarters in The Hague.

They are taking about seven months since they have not met their family members, while Salih Mustafa, who had been arrested earlier, has not met his family.

Several days ago, Thaci's defence side and others have sought bail from the detainees, but this request has been rejected by the Special Court under the grounds that Kosovo has no capacity to provide security for the supervision of the accused./Periscopi/