Trial of the KLA in The Hague Begins, First Witnesses Heard

Such hearings are expected to take place on 12 April and 13 April. The hearing is expected later on 17, 18, 19 and April 20th.

On April 4th, 2023 has begun the trial against four former KLA leaders after more than two years.

Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi are staying in custody in The Hague since November 2020.

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.

The Specialised Prosecutor's Office had announced the Special Court on July 23rd of the criminal investigation against the four KLA leaders.

Meanwhile, April 2022, Z. The SP has filed a changed indictment where it has expanded the charges of war crimes even in Gjilan, Budakov and Semetish.

The persons who were detained and sent to these areas were described as Serbs, their associates, or LDK supporters.

The initial act against four indictees was confirmed on October 26, 2020, and changed on September 3, 2021, April 29, 2022, and September 30th, 2022. The less editing version of Aktakuza was delivered on February 27, 2023. This is currently the indictment in effect in this court case.

Each of the accused has been charged on the basis of individual criminal responsibility on six counts of crimes against humanity: persecution, imprisonment, other inhuman acts, torture, unlawful murder, and forced disappearance of persons. Also against each of the accused, four counts of war crimes have been filed: arrest and unlawful and arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and unlawful murder.

In Aktakuza it is demonstrated that the crimes for which the charges were filed were committed at least from March 1998 to September 1999, and occurred in several countries in Kosovo, as well as in Kukes and Cahan, in northern Albania. The crimes were allegedly committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK) against hundreds of civilians and persons who did not participate in the fighting. The Aktakuza claims that Thaci, Veselin, Selimi and Krasniqi bear individual criminal responsibility on the basis of various forms of criminal responsibility for crimes committed in the context of an international armed conflict in Kosovo that was part of a widespread and systematic attack against persons suspected of being KLA opponents.

Starting on April 3rd, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office (ZPS) will make the opening statement, and to that end it has been assigned more than 5 hours. Furthermore, it is planned that the defender of the victims will make his opening statement, which will last 45 minutes at most. Following the victims' defenders, each of the four defence teams will make entry statements. These statements are scheduled for April 4th.

140 people have been admitted as participating victims in the judicial process. Those who demonstrate they have suffered physical, mental or material damage as a direct consequence of a crime put forward at the Confirmed Aktaque apply to participate in the judicial process in the DHSK. These include those who have been directly injured and who have suffered damage as a result of close contact with a direct victim allegedly killed or injured.