DW: No Trial Against KLA, but trial against individuals

That was the statement which the Special Prosecutor specifically underlined in launching the trial at The Hague Special Court during Monday's morning.

Former President Hashim Thaci, former Kosovo Parliament Speakers Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veselini, as well as former member of the General Staff Rexhep Selimi, were declared completely innocent “at the launch of the first trial session, which appears to have preceded a marathon process that could last about six years.

Whiting: The defendants part of the chain of command
The four former KLA leaders are charged that between March 1998 and September 1999, they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against the ethnic minorities of Serbia and Roma, as well as their political rivals who have not supported them during the war and the government formed after the liberation. They are accused of persecution, inhuman treatment, murder, extinction, and so on.

The special prosecutor in office, Alex Whiting, said at the introduction of his statements that the four accused are founding members of the KLA and have been part of the chain of command.

But there has also been a dark side of their leadership, which is the object of this”, declared the chief representative of the prosecution body, who replaced the now resigned prosecutor Jack Smith, who was assigned another post in the United States. More than 100 crimes are reported, most Kosovo Albanians who were political rivals from the Democratic League of Kosovo.

Evidence and geographically extended witnesses in many areas of Kosovo are found in the prosecution file, but also in Albania. Acting prosecutor Whiting stressed that the investigation of witnesses has been and remains another challenge of this process. The prosecution's witnesses continue to install and fear as of today” About 312 people are expected to testify in this trial process.
Protest in The Hague.

Albanian was spoken on The Hague streets the day before the trial began. Numerous citizens traveled from Switzerland, Germany and other states to rally in support for the accused and against this judicial process. As the morning of April 3rd read the indictment, the protesters gathered under calls “U n CK” and “Line for rescuers”. For Deutsche Welle, questioned citizens said they do not trust the prosecution, but believe justice, and agree that former KLA leaders will be acquitted. Authorities had allowed the collection of 300 people, but according to organisers, about 3,000 people gathered.

The four former KLA leaders are charged that between March 1998 and September 1999, they have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against ethnic minorities, both Serbian and Roma, as well as their political rivals who have not supported them during the war and the government formed after the liberation. They are accused of persecution, inhuman treatment, ban, murder, extinction, and so on.

The special prosecutor in office, Alex Whiting, said at the introduction of his statements, that the four accused are founding members of the KLA and have been part of the chain of command. But there has also been a dark side of their leadership, which is the object of this” act, said the chief representative of the prosecution body, who replaced the already resigned prosecutor Jack Smith, who was assigned another post in the United States. The indictment acknowledges that there are over 100 crimes, most Kosovo Albanians, among whom were political rivals from the Democratic League of Kosovo.

Evidence and geographically extended witnesses in many areas of Kosovo are found in the prosecution file, but also in Albania. Acting prosecutor Whiting stressed that the investigation of witnesses has been and remains another challenge of this process. The witnesses continue to identify themselves and to be afraid today” About 312 people are expected to testify in this trial process.

Making a history of KLA creation, prosecutor Matthew Halling also presented several statements and documents of former KLA leaders. According to him, Thaci, Veselin and Selimi had founded the General Staff and started “this joint criminal enterprise”. While Jakup Krasniqi was said to be a member of the political directorate. Prosecutor Halling also introduced an organisation of the KLA structure from November 1998, referring to the data, which, according to prosecutor “, found in Jakup Krasniqi's house”.

Whiting said the motive of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly in the indictment, “was to gain power in the fight against persons perceived as opponents of the KLA”.

The “may have carried out for fear that their cause would be undermined by those perceived as opponents. It could have been revenge. You'll see evidence of these two”, he claims. According to Whiting, you were not the secret ass, that the joint criminal intent “aimed at targeting opponents”, Whiting said.

The Special Court prosecutors then presented their concrete evidence for alleged crimes. According to them, The KLA is involved in 440 incidents and has detained many people, among whom “at least 144 of them have not survived”.

“They died cruelly because they were regarded as collocationists”, the prosecutor said, adding that “a were people with professions like farmers, teachers, journalists, employees and other professions”. Among the victims, according to the prosecution, were Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Roma and others.

The prosecution then presented several concrete cases of grips, beatings and murders in Jablanice, Lapusnik, Zlat, Klecca, and other countries. The prosecution claims that all these charges will be documented with arguments. One of the prosecution's claims is the ban, maintenance, and mistreatment of political opponents. According to them, Hashim Thaci has told LDK supporters to give up their then and Ibrahim Rugova positions. The prosecution claims that those who have opposed the NLA's <x0-taktics have risked killing”. While the most frequent form of charges against persons who did not follow KLA orders was “trandary and co-bortionist”. And among the cases of attacks on civilians, the prosecution also cited the injuries of Radivoje Papovovich, a former rector established by Serbian authorities at Pristina University. This attack occurred in 1996.

Presenting general proof of the indictment, the prosecutor, among other things, also released a document, which he presented as “Discipline Regiment at KLA”. This document is seen, according to prosecutors, who had authority to establish order within the U CK and that inside U The CK had rules of discipline where sanctions were predicted. The prosecutor also submitted other letters that, according to him, are documents proving that the General Staff has worked and that the KLA has had hierarchy. For the start of the KLA, it was said that “U n The CK was founded by the Kosovo People's Movement and made up people like Adem Jashari, Xhavit Haliti, Azem Syla and others. These documents and prosecutors' claims were intended to show that the KLA had deregulated the particular hierarchy and that “from the start members of the General Staff have exercised their duties”. In this dispute, specific areas of the KLA, such as Drenica, Dukagjin, Pashrik, Shala, Llap, Nerodimes and Karadaku, were said to have been created. While the General Staff was “central to all of this”. / DW