Former KLA leaders visited at The Hague by family members, Special gives details about allowing visits

Former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Jakup Krasniqi, Rexhep Selimi, as well as other former members of this army are continuing to be held in custody by the Special Court, where after about eight months they have begun to meet their family in detention centres.

Kosovo's Specialised Chambers have begun allowing visits from July 15th, where the first to have met his family was Jakup Krasniqi.

Michael Doyle, spokesman for Kosovo's Specialised Chambers, in a response to Telegrafi, has indicated that visits have begun to be allowed after the successful vaccination campaign.

Also, Doyle indicated that visits with other family members would resume in August-September.

All prisoners are provided reasonable ways to maintain personal relations, including visits by family members. In line with medical advice and after a successful inoculation campaign at the Pre-prisonment Centres, the-19 measures applied at the Pre-burging Centres are gradually and progressively lifted. Personal family visits to marriage mates, parents, children, and siblings of inmates have been possible starting on July 15, 2021. Visits with other family members are expected to resume in August-September, if the assessment of the first phase, based on daily medical updates, is positive”, Doyle has said of Telegrafi.

Doyle has added further that the detainees and their close family members have received detailed information on the appointment of visits. While, because of privacy, he said specialised rooms do not provide information on visiting requests at the Pre-burging Centres.

In contrast, according to the definition of pre-medigence, close relatives include marriage mates, partners/partners, parents, children, grandchildren, brother, sister (including only brothers and sisters from mother or father) and brothers and sisters found; grandparents, groom, and bride.

All of these will be allowed to spend time with relatives in special custody, without being monitored by Scheveningen workers, the place where former KLA leaders are being held.
The specialist has taken special care of organizing family visits on a simplified procedure.

Personal meetings between the detainee and his wife and the children of the detainees are realised at a suitable location within the detention facility where physical contact is allowed. The environment is out of sight and hearing of the detention officers.

Meanwhile, the detention chief may impose restrictions on visits and communications, including time restrictions, based on the daily working plan of the detention facility and the availability of personnel. The hour of visits could change if the detainees or visitors do not comply, the regulation said.

Under the same regulation, any items taken from outside the detention facility, including any items brought by a visitor, are subject to security checks of the detention facility, and, in case, can be controlled with the use of Rentgen-ray devices and other control devices.

Otherwise, in October 2020, the Special Court for Investigation of Crimes committed during the Kosovo war had confirmed the indictment against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, in doubt of committing war crimes in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999.