On Monday the trial begins, what are former KLA leaders charged with?

Hashim Thaci

On November 5, 2020, Hashim Thaci resigned from the post of Kosovo president after the trial of preliminary procedure near the Specialised Chambers announced he has confirmed the indictment against him and his three former fighters.

“So, as I promised, I will not allow the president of the Republic of Kosovo” before the trial, Thaci told reporters during a media conference held in the Kosovo Presidency Court.

That same day, he left for The Hague, where he is still standing at the specialised Chambers detention centre known as the Special Court.

On November 9th, in the first appearance before the Special Court, Thaci was acquitted of all charges weighing on him.

“I clear innocent of all prosecution points”, Thaci said, naming the indictment to him as unstable “”.

At the time when Kosovo's Assembly voted for the establishment of the Special Court, Thaci had declared that despite considered injustice, the state had to establish this institution, which operates according to Kosovo laws.

The international community's request towards Kosovo to establish a Special Court, which will handle any possible charges, which could result from the investigations of the European Union-based Special Investigative Task Force to address claims issued by the Dick Marty Report, is the injustice and the greatest insult that can be made to Kosovo State and Kosovo society”, Thaci had declared in the Kosovo Assembly.

Former Kosovo Prime Minister and President Hashim Thaci, according to Special Court documents, is said to have been chief of political directors and KLA information, chief commander of KLA and prime minister of the Kosovo Interim Government.

The specialist charges him that, along with Veselini, Selimi and Krasniqi, and other members of the <x0-continence of the joint criminal enterprise, have shared the same goal of taking and exercising control all over Kosovo with all means, including intimidation, mistreatment, violence exercise and elimination of those whom they considered to be anti-x1>.

Kadri Wessel

Former Kosovo Assembly Chairman Kadri Veseline announced on November 5th that he has made all arrangements necessary to travel to The Hague, after it was reportedly a confirmed indictment against him by the Specialised Chambers.

I appreciate the fact that the Specialised Chambers have shown courtesy by launching an invitation to appear in court, instead of unconventionally arresting me”, Wessel said, through a press release.

He asked Kosovo citizens to show respect for justice authorities, as he stressed that “this process aims to reach the truth”.

On November 10, 2020, in our first appearance before Special, Wessel was acquitted of all charges.

I heard and read all the points of the indictment. Allow me to state with full conviction that I am completely innocent at all points of the indictment”, Wessel declared.

Wessel at the time the indictment was confirmed leading the Democratic Party of Kosovo, currently the largest opposition subject in Kosovo. Similarly, he had also been chairman of the Kosovo Assembly.

Meanwhile, in terms of war and early post-war, according to Special Court documents, Wessel is said to have been a member of the KLA political directorate and chief of the KLA intelligence service. Wessel has also reportedly been minister of Information Service in the Interim Government and chief of the Kosovo Intelligence Service.

Jakup Krasniqi

Jakup Krasniqi is in The Hague detention centre since 4 November 2020.

He appeared before the Special Chambers on November 9th, and unlike Thaci and Wessel, except he was declared innocent of the indictment, he also gave a speech.

“I don't feel guilty or responsible for any point stated in the indictment and nothing else said in the indictment”, he stated.

Krasniqi was tough enough with the Special, separately with the wording “joint criminal enterprise” mentioned in the indictment, which said it is “offensive for him, family, friends and all those who fought in 1998-99 against Serbian forces.

“...we were and are the joint liberation and state-run venture”, he stressed.

Krasniqi, who has been Kosovo Assembly Speaker in wartime, has been spokesman for KLA and Interim Government, member of political directorate and deputy commander KLA, according to Special.

Rexhep Selimi

The indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Rexhep Selimi, has named <x0 unfair” and has been declared innocent of all points.

Like Krasniqi, Selimi also announced on November 4th that he had received confirmation of the indictment and was headed towards The Hague.

I'm going with my head up and whenever I come back, I'm going back with my head up, because I was, and I'm going to be a soldier of the Kosovo Liberation Army, for which I'm willing to give everything from myself”, he wrote that very day in his Facebook account.

At the time of his arrest, Selimi was chief of the ruling party's Parliamentary Group Vetevendosje Movement ? The subject that has rejected the establishment of the Special Court.

In his presentation to the Specialised Chambers, Selimi has voiced conviction that the judicial process will show that he and the KLA “have nothing to do with crimes, nor with joint criminal enterprise, as we are falsely named in this indictment”.

I'm just a client who started the freedom fight with legendary Commander Adam Yasar and we're done with General [Wesley] Clark, with NATO”, he declared.

According to Specialised Chambers, Selimi has been chief of the KLA's operational directorate, and by the end of March 1999 has been the general inspector of this army. Meanwhile, in the Kosovo Interim Government, he has held the post of minister of Public Order.

What is said in the indictment?

Despite becoming public on November 5, 2020, the indictment against former KLA leaders was confirmed on October 26th that same year. Two years later, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office filed new charges, which Thaci, Veselin, Krasniqi and Selimi alike pleaded innocent.

Thaci, Veselin, Krasniqi and Selimi are charged that, along with other members “of the joint criminal enterprise”, they have intended to take over and exercise control of “across Kosovo with all means, including intimidation, mistreatment, violence exercise and elimination, which they considered to be anti-x3>.

The crimes that are charged at the ten points of the prosecution are allegedly committed at several locations in Kosovo, but also in Kukes and Cahan of northern Albania, and those according to the indictment “were committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army against hundreds of civilians and persons who did not actively participate in fighting”.

Besides, former KLA leaders are mentioned in the indictment as well as others, who are allegedly part of <x0, the joint criminal establishment” as “Azem Syla, Lahi Brahimaj, Fatmir Limaj, Syleman Selimi, Rrustem Mustafa, Shukri Buja, Latif Gashi, and other political and military leaders of the KLA”.

The indictment reportedly among the victims were persons suspected of being KLA opponents, and later of the Interim Government, <x0ocretically Serb, Roma and Ashkali; Catholic; civilians who claimed to co-operate with Serbian authorities or who allegedly contacted Serbs; Albanians who were members or supporters of the Democratic League of Kosovo or other parties considered to be opposed KLA; Albanians who did not join or support the KLA; and individuals employed or former employees who were considered opposed KLA”

According to the Specialised Chambers for Crimes, the four former KLA leaders bear criminal responsibility as individuals on the basis of various forms of criminal responsibility presented in the indictment, “that were carried out in the context of an international armed conflict in Kosovo and under a widespread and systematic attack against suspected persons as opponents of the KLA”.

The Acropolis claims there have been detention centres in Kosovo at several locations, as in Licoc, Jablanica, Drenoc, Lapusnik and others.

Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi are personally accused of taking part in <x0 threats, interrogation, mistreatment and detention of opponents”.

Through actions or inactions, according to the indictment, Thaci, Wessel, Krasniqi's Selimi “along with the joint criminal enterprise, committed, helped or promoted other participants for the crimes presented in this act”.

“As a superior, they are responsible for crimes committed by their subordinates. They either knew or failed to take appropriate action to prevent such crimes or punish perpetrators of these crimes”, the initial indictment reported.

The indictment claims that former KLA superiors have contributed to achieving the common “goal, including committing crimes in these ways: shaping or participating in development, approval, promotion, distribution of plans and policies; failure to take appropriate steps to prevent and investigate crimes... and other”.

The indictment mentions several events allegedly taking part in the defendants, as they were in 1999 claiming that Wessel, Krasniqi and Selimi “were involved in various aspects of transfer, ban or release of detainees, held at a detention centre near Klechka”.

Another event allegedly occurred in July 1998, when, according to the indictment, Serb civilians were taken hostage following a KLA attack in Rahovec and the district. In this case, the Special Court claims that Thaci, Veselin and Selimi were involved in this operation and then the hostages were sent to a former police station in Malisheva, where Krasniqi is identified by the prosecution body as a person who “in one case has visited a room where detainees were being held”.

The initial indictment, the Prosecutor's Office Specialised in 2022, added several more charges.

These charges include crimes allegedly committed at two detention centres in Suhareka and Gjilan.

The Specialised Prosecutor's Office claimed that there have been two detention centers in Suhareka, “where members of the KLA have committed crimes of persecution, imprisonment or arbitrary detention, other inhumane acts, inhuman treatment, torture, unlawful murder and extinction by force”.

On the new charges, the prosecution claimed there are suspicions of direct involvement in Thaci's crimes.

In Suhareka, it is claimed that between June 4th and September 1998, 12 persons have been detained at detention centers.

Meanwhile, as for the alleged centre in Gjilan, it is alleged to have been located in the building of a former school and dormitory, and by the end of June and early July 1999, KLA members had banned at least three “persons.

Throughout the pretrial procedure, the defence teams of former KLA leaders have blamed the prosecution for obstructing their work, failing to deliver documents at the right time and for other obstacles.

At first, the defense had said that restrictions imposed on the world at the time of the coronary pandemic caused trouble in preparing their materials. They also complained that the SPS was not showing the origin of excusing materials, which defence can use, alluding that they may have origin in Serbia. Regarding excusing materials, the defence has also criticised the prosecution for delaying their extraction.

Likewise, the defence teams of former KLA leaders have sometimes submitted requests for the release of their clients on bail until the trial starts -- requests that have been rejected.

The trial that starts on April 3rd is expected to last for years, due to the volume and large number of witnesses and documents expected to present both the prosecution and the defence.

The court said on March 20th that if the Specialised Prosecutor continues ahead with the estimate presented as to witnesses, then it will take 6.5 years just to question her witnesses. The ZPS has so far presented 312 witnesses who will be questioned by it, but also by defence.

The Special Court investigates the alleged crimes of KLA members committed against ethnic minorities and political rivals from January 1998 to December 2000.

These crimes were originally mentioned in a Council of Europe report, which was drafted by then Swiss Senator Dick Marty. The report paved the way for special establishment through voting in the Kosovo Assembly in 2015. / REL