Judgment Against Peter Shala, the court issues five oral orders

The first order involved the request of the Office of Specialised Prosecutor of March 20, 2023 to accept earlier statements of witness number 1 and accompanying materials

According to the ZPS, accepting these materials would enable a full witness assessment, but this has been rejected by Shala's defence on April 14th 2023.

According to the defence, given the history of the witness's past and the eventual contradictions, they have demanded that such as non-believe and claim to be unacceptable.

As an alternative option, protection has demanded that if such a court accepts, then some material related to the person and criminal past of the witness will be accepted as evidence.

The judge has indicated that there have been reactions by the SPS on April 24th, 2023, saying defence can explore the material during counter-questions and that the requirement for accepting their materials is not valid.

Under these circumstances, the court has decided that because of the nature of this witness's testimony, the SPS's request is to be dropped.

“The most appropriate time to present evidence witness one is through Viva Voce testimony, for this reason, the court undermines SPS's request and orders the SPS to call witness one to give a direct witness, entirely”, the judge said, reports “The Justice Vocitiary”.

In this regard, Sir has ordered The SP, until 12 May, will hand over an up-to-date assessment of the time it will be questioned about the witness.

The court will present the SPS, protection and defenders the possibility of fully exploring the other relevant aspects that they deem important and present witnesses with every previous statement and material judging key”, she said.

On the other hand, the second order concerned the SPS's request to add to the list of material evidence a series of official documents, photos and videos of the alleged crime sites that have been collected following a visit to this country by SPS earlier this year.

For this, the court said the defence has not filed objections and that the request has been submitted over time, adding that this material can help the juro understand the alleged crime scene, and that they have even approved the request.

The third order, meanwhile, involved determining the procedure in presenting evidence from the victims' defender.

So it's decided that this can be done after the prosecution is completed with evidence and before the trial defense begins.

The criminal process is set to take place and the process of injury at the same time, so it has been instructed to protect the victims to present evidence for both the truth and the victims' damage evidence.

From the victims' defender, it has been requested that the list of witnesses wishing to call, including experts, be handed over by June 30th 2023.

Also, to present the act of expertise no later than June 30th, 2023, regarding the damage of direct and indirect victims and if not then to present an opinion on the estimated financial damage.

In terms of expert reports, they will be given the opportunity to present their defence and SPS objections in a 7-day term.

On the other hand, it has been requested by the defender of the victims that until July 17th, 2023 hand over any silent evidence they seek to present.

As well as if any of the victims would like to present their views and concerns, they should request authorization from the court by June 30, 2023.

According to Judge Veldt-Foglia, the evidence presented by the defender of the victims should be presented during the week 21-25 August 2023 and late 18-23 September 2023.

Following the hearing, the fourth order was about the gamma and the specificity of the charges.

The court's “Trug recalls that cases related to the gamma and specificity of the charges and any defect in the form of the indictment should be raised in the preliminary phase of the case, according to the 97 regulation rule. Defence observations are thus subsequently premature for more of these cases are discussed by both the judge of the preliminary procedure and by the Court of Appeals panel and for these measures, decisions have been taken, Judge Veldt-Foglia said.

According to her, protection should decide on issues and aspects for which she wants to ask questions and get evidence or in a more general plan for how to present her case, saying that because of the sensitivity of the statement, she will no longer go on with the matter.

The fifth order, on the other hand, involved proposing victim protection at the May 3rd session, so the same proposal was approved by deciding that the side will issue the document list only with documents not present on the call list.

Regarding the session calendar, Judge Veld-Foglia said that since the hearings are scheduled by July 2023, the calendar will be communicated by January 2024, including 21-25 August, 18-22 September, October 2-4, October 23-27, November 20th to December 1, 2023, and January 15th-19th, 2024.

On 25 April, Shala submitted the preliminary file for the trial under way.

Otherwise, during February, the trial has begun where the prosecution and the defense of the victims have submitted their opening statements, while on February 22nd they have heard Peter Shala's opening statements as well as statements without his oath.

In March it has begun to present the prosecution's evidence, where five witnesses have been heard and the sixth is continuing to hear.

The first witness has begun his testimony on March 27th and completed it on March 28th, the second witness has begun witnessing on March 28th and has completed it on March 29th, the third witness has begun witnessing on March 29th and has completed it on March 30th, the same day as the fourth witness.

The fifth witness, however, began witnessing on May 1 as he finished on May 2, where the testimony of the sixth witness began, which ended on May 3rd.

These witnesses were meant to be heard for five sessions, but since the same evidence has been completed for four days, the March 31st 2023 session has not been held.

Otherwise, Shala was arrested on March 16th 2021 by Belgian authorities and transferred to The Hague on April 15th 2021, on a request for co-operation in implementing arrest warrants and the command for transfer issued by Kosovo's Specialised Chambers, reports the “Justice Trust”.

In the confirmed indictment, Shala is charged with individual criminal responsibility in various forms of war crimes as arbitrary bans, cruel treatment, torture and illegal murder committed in the context of the armed conflict in Kosovo and in connection with this conflict.

The “commands that Mr. Shala was carried out approximately between May 17th 1999 and June 5, 1999, against persons who were held in the metal factory in Kukes (Albania), allegedly used by the Kosovo Liberation Army”, it is said in the communique.