Selimi's defence motion against witness testimony approved

The panel, at the beginning of the session, has accepted the motion submitted by Rexhep Selimi's defence for rejecting the testimony of a witness over two alleged incidents that took place outside the period of the indictment.

Selimi's “Defense has filed a motion and disputes witness testimony to two alleged incidents that took place outside the period of the indictment”, Judge Charles Smith said initially.

This provided information is unsaved. The court approves Selimi's defense motion. ZPS is not allowed to ask questions about the incidents described in paragraphs 3.16.23 of the material. As for the witness's testimony, references to these attacks should be edited by any material intended to present as evidence. Finally, the parties must hand over edited versions by Monday”, Smith said.

The court has estimated that the acceptance of such evidence can cause unjust damage to the accused.

“Consistents of these evidence can cause unjust damage to the accused. The SPS is not allowed to ask questions about these” incidents, the chairman of the court said.

Today, as will last week, it will continue with the process of presenting evidence, the hearing of witnesses, respectively.

During the past week for three days, the first witness in Thaci's case and others has spoken. Her hearings were closed to the public.

In the weekly briefing of the Specialised Chambers, he told them that all judgments are public, but judges in some cases decide to conduct a private session with the aim of protecting witness identity.

The decision to make private hearings to protect witnesses is carefully considered by judges, case by case. The judges ensure that there is balance between the need for witness protection and the rights of the accused. For example, even when witness testimony is not public, the accused's lawyers still have the right to ask the witness questions from them”, said spokesman Michael Doyle.

After more than two years in custody, the trial against former KLA leaders began 3 April with the parties' opening statements.

They are being charged by the Prosecutor's Office with charges of crimes against humanity, such as persecution, imprisonment, inhumane acts, torture, extinction and murder, as well as four counts of war crimes as arrest, arbitrary detention, torture and unlawful murder.

According to the indictment these crimes have been committed in different territories of Kosovo and Albania, as in Likoc, Jablanica, Llapsnik, Drenoc, Malisheva, Bajgora, Majac, Zlatko, Klecka, Kukes and Rahovec