Court: Z SP will take over 6 years to present evidence to former KLA leaders

The trial against former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci, former head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kadri Veselin, former member of the KLA General Staff, Rexhep Selimi and former KLA spokeswoman Jakup Krasniqi, is scheduled for 3 April. They are accused by the Special Chambers in The Hague of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The accused are attending the status conference via video connection.

According to the judge, if they refer to the estimates presented by the Special Prosecutor's Office, then it would take 6.5 years for the SPS to present the evidence and question witnesses, and this, according to Judge “, is over”.

Only for the first 12 witnesses, if the SPS acts according to the estimates presented, the judge said it would be needed by January last year to complete interrogations.

The judge said the SPS has submitted 312 witnesses, numbering 46 witnesses a year, and it takes 6.5 years to complete the proceedings.

The specialised Prosecutor's Office said it is working on the initial review, including the removal of several witnesses.

The defence of former KLA leaders also said it is being co-ordinated that if prosecution witnesses refer only to one of the indictees, the other defence teams will not be questioned.

Thaci's defence team also said that the time assessments presented for defence witnesses could be reduced, as the time estimates presented are maximum estimates.

What are Thaci, Veselin, Krasniqi and Selimi accused of?

Towards former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, former head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kadri Veselin, former member of the KLA General Staff, Rexhep Selimi and former KLA spokeswoman Jakup Krasniqi burden charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Former KLA superiors were arrested in November 2020. Since then they have been in custody at The Hague and have been declared innocent of charges weighing on them.

They are suspected of criminal acts involving war crimes: illegal or arbitrary bans, cruel treatment, torture and unlawful murder, and crimes against humanity - imprisonment, other inhumane acts, forced extinction of persons and persecution, which, according to Specialised Chambers, were committed between March 1998 and September 1999.

The crimes allegedly were committed in several Kosovo locations and in northern Albania, in Kukes and Chahan respectively.

Specialised Chambers and Specialised Prosecutor's Office, also known as the Special Court, investigate the alleged crimes of members of the Kosovo Liberation Army committed against ethnic minorities and political rivals from January 1998 to December 2000.

These claims have been mentioned for the first time in a Council of Europe report, drafted by then Swiss Senator Dick Marty.

This report has paved the way for the establishment of the Special Court through a Kosovo Assembly decision in 2015.