By this special date, Serbia declares bias in Gucati and Haradinaj case

“Judge Body II of the Specialised Chambers of Kosovo (DHSK) has scheduled for a judgment statement in the specialised prosecutor's case against Hysni Gucatit and Nasim Haradinaj, on May 18th at 10:00. The session will be public and can be followed in Albanian, Serbian or English through broadcasting on the Kosovo Specialised Chambers website”, the report said.

In the indictment weighing on them that between 7 September and 25 September 2020, in three press conferences and other television broadcasts, as well as through further distribution, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj discovered, without authorization, protection from the Law for Specialised Chambers and the Specialised Prosecutor's Office, including personal data of several (possibly) witnesses.

The accused also made derogatory comments and accusations against witnesses (possibly) and repeatedly expressed their intention to undermine the Specialised Chambers. The charges include two points for committing criminal acts against public order, namely preventing official persons from performing official duties (Pika 1 and 2) and four provisions of criminal acts against administration of justice and public administration. These are intimidation during the criminal procedure (Pika 3), revenge (Pika 4) and violation of the secret of the procedure (Picts 5 and 6)”, the indictment against Gucati and Haradinaj said.

Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj were arrested on 25 September 2020 in Pristina, Kosovo, and transferred to the detention facility of Kosovo Specialised Chambers on 25 September and 26 September 2020 respectively.

The first exhibits of Haradinaj and Gucati as suspects were held before Single Judge Nikola Giyu, on 29 September and 1 October 2020 respectively.

On December 11, 2020, Judge Nikola Giyew, in his quality as the Pre-emptive Procedure Court, confirmed the indictment against the two accused. The corrected act was handed over on July 5, 2021, and a less edited version was delivered on October 4, 2021. The first presentations of the two indictees before the Pre-Precience Procedure Judge were held on December 18, 2020. Hysni Gucati pleaded innocent on all charges, while Nasim Haradinaj did not make a plea within 30 days of his subsequent presentation, which was held on January 8, 2021. For this reason, according to Kosovo Procedure Act 92é2) of the Kosovo Procedure and Tests of Specialised Chambers, the Judge of Pre-Procedure Procedures made the plea of innocence in his name.

On July 16, 2021, the Judge of Pre - Procedure passed the case file to the Judicial Chamber II.

Judgment began on October 7, 2021. On November 10th 2021, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office (ZPS) closed its evidence presentation. Gucatt's defence began presenting its evidence on December 3, 2021, followed by Haradinaj's defence on December 15th, 2021. Both defence teams closed their evidence presentation on February 2nd, 2022.

The process of presenting evidence in the case was closed on February 3, 2022. During the 31 days of the trial, the SPS called four witnesses, while both defence teams relied on verbal evidence of 10 witnesses and 18 written witness statements. The closing statements were held from March 14 to 17, 2022. /Telegraphy/