Judge: Thaci and others cases, on the court before the end of the year

The judge of the preliminary procedure in the case against former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders, Nicolas Guillou, said he intends to pass the court case before the end of this year.

At the opening of the 15th conference on the performance of the issue towards Thaci, Veselin, Selimi and Krasniqi, he said he will make decisions on requirements that have been submitted so far by the parties, but not for those according to him are not urgent.

Before I give the parties my word to present their views on each point of the agenda, I confirm that I intend to pass the court case before the end of the year. I intend to decide on the demands that have been submitted so far for review, but not on the urgent demands which the parties will submit from today to the passage of the court case, so as not to delay procedures”, the presiding court said.

The conference is taking place in Kosovo's Specialised Chambers in The Hague, and the accused are participating through video connection from the detention centre.

The incident against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselin, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi over the war crimes claim has been confirmed on 26 October 2020, while in their first appearances at the Special Chambers in The Hague, they have been declared innocent.

They are staying in custody at The Hague since November 2020.

On April 29th, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office has handed over a amended indictment against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselin, Rexhepi and Jakup Krasniqi, where it claims the accused committed war crimes in Gjilan, Budakov and Semetish.