Trial Continues Against Former KLA Leaders in The Hague

Today, the trial will continue against former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders (UÇK), Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi in The Hague. The session is expected to begin by 9:00.
The day before, a portion has been made public by giving the fifth witness testimony in Thaci's trial and others.

On the occasion of opening the public hearing, the witness replied that he had been 150m away when he had first seen several men with firearms and that the nearest one had been about 3-4m, reports Justice Vow.

He said that upon seeing them, he had continued by another way of getting ahead, for according to him, they had had a car of his relatives.

The same one described these men wearing black uniforms in black masks on their faces, saying they had had the Kosovo Liberation Army emblem ( KLA.

Because of completing his working hours, his testimony was interrupted to continue at tomorrow's session. According to the indictment, the crimes presented in it were committed at least from March 1998 to September 1999 at several locations in Kosovo, as well as in Kukes and Chahan, in northern Albania.

On May 10th 2022, during their presentations, the four indictees pleaded innocent over the new charges in the amended indictment. On December 15th, the judge of the preliminary procedure passed the case file to the court II. The preparation conference for the trial was held on 18 January 2023, followed by the Specialised Prosecutor's Preparation Conference on 15 February.

The trial began on April 3rd 2023 with the opening statements of the Specialised Prosecutor and the representative of the victims, followed by defence teams on April 4th and April 5th 2023. There are 140 participating victims on this issue, said the Specialised Chambers and Kosovo Specialised Prosecutor's Office.