The hearing in The Hague begins, defence questions second witness in Thaci case, others

For the third consecutive day, the prosecution's second witness in the case against former KLA leaders, Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, will answer prosecutorial questions and the protection of victims before the Specialised Chambers in The Hague.

Unlike the first day, when the opening part was open to the public, Tuesday's session was closed all the time and with edited content. This witness on the first day of testimony said he is a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo and has been present at the KLA public appearance.

Yesterday was the interview of the second protected witness being questioned by the SPS. After the hearing was opened by the court, it was passed to the editing session for the public.

On Monday, this witness has confirmed that he has been and is a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo since the early 1990s, as well as a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

He told the public yesterday about organising the structures of the Democratic League of Kosovo during the 1990s, while the prosecutor's questions have been focused on organising the LDK in the Malisheva municipality.

The witness has also been asked by the prosecutor for the first public appearance of the KLA, on November 28, 1997, in the village of Lausa in Skyright. The witness has admitted to being present at this event along with other LDK members.

Otherwise the first indictment against four indictees was confirmed on October 26, 2020, and was made public on November 5, 2020. On July 22, 2021, the Judge of Pre-Procedure Procedures, through two rulings, partially adopted the defence motions and ordered the SPS to correct and change the indictment, among other things, excluding the responsibility of joint criminal enterprise III for concrete crimes (three appeals against that decision, handed down by Thaci, Selimi and Krasniqi, were rejected by the Court of Appeals on 22 August 2022).