Thaci lawyers' withdrawal warned, complain of default

Gregory Kehoe, Joe Reader, Greenberg Legal Associates and the members of this company have demanded that they withdraw from defence Hashim Thaci in his case at the Special Court.

That is because they broke their covenants.

The news has been made known through a media communique by Kosovo's Specialised Chambers.

“Z. Thaci has not met the obligation to Gregory Kehoe, Joe Reader, the Greenbourg Legal Association and members of the support team and Mr. Thaci has been given a reasonable warning that they would seek the outcome if they have not been met with the” obligation, the Special Chambers announced.

Also included in the report is Thaci's official defence request, until it is said that, under the regulation, when the other defence group is appointed, the preliminary lawyers should continue co-operating “in a period of no more than 45 days”.

On January 29th, the justice ministry through an Administrative Guide has said it is aiming to change the legal protection fee for the accused at The Hague.

It envisions increased values, but that for lawyers it's not enough, because of inflation.

On December 18th, Haxhiu had declared before reporters that the Ministry of Justice has the powers only to address family demands and also cover the financial aspect of the defence team.

The justice ministry for any action has minimal options. Unless there can be public statements in a procedural/formal sense, there are no responsibilities, and not by chance, even when the Special Court has been voted all these aspects that are discussed today after a few years, we have even mentioned at that time, so the risks that may come to”, Haxhi said.

“As far as the justice ministry is concerned, there is no mandate but to deal with family demands and also cover the financial aspect of the defence team”.

What are Thaci and the others accused of?

Towards former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, former head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kadri Veselin, former member of the KLA General Staff, Rexhep Selimi and former KLA spokeswoman Jakup Krasniqi burden charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Since November 2020 they have been in custody at The Hague and have been declared innocent of charges weighing on them.

According to the initial indictment, Thaci, Veselin, Krasniqi and Selimi are suspected of criminal acts dealing with war crimes: illegal or arbitrary bans, cruel treatment, torture and unlawful murder, and crimes against humanity -- imprisonment, other inhumane acts, forced extinction of persons and persecution, which, according to Specialised Chambers, were committed between March 1998 and September 1999.

The crimes allegedly were committed in several Kosovo locations and in northern Albania.

On May 10th, the Specialised Prosecutor has presented three categories of changes in the indictment against Thaci and other former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

According to the amended version of the indictment, in the villages of Budakova and Semtish in Suhareka, it is suspected that between June 4th 1998 and September 1998, at least 12 persons were detained at the detention centre.

Also, in the indictment it is said that at the end of June and early July 1999, KLA participants detained at least three persons without regular legal process in a KLA headquarters located in a former school building and dormitory at Gjilan”.

Specialised Chambers and Specialised Prosecutor's Office, also known as the Special Court, investigate the alleged crimes of members of the Kosovo Liberation Army committed against ethnic minorities and political rivals from January 1998 to December 2000.

These alleged crimes are mentioned in a 2011 Council of Europe report, author of which is Swiss senator Dick Marty.