The court says concerned about the failure of indictees to court in Thaci case and others

The chairman of the court, Charles Smith III, said that according to the rules, the accused should be physically present at the court hearing except a few cases, reports the “Justice Trust”.

“We are concerned with the unwillingness of the accused in the courtroom when we have trial. We believe that the accused in order should be physically present in the courtroom when evidence is presented except extraordinary cases when they can be followed through video call”, Smith III said.

He said that even when permission is obtained for physical inactivity in the hall, the accused sometimes give no excuse for it.

When they receive permission not to be present, there is no reason why they are not present. We rely on rule 168/1, where it says that the accused should be present in the courtroom except in cases when provided differently by law and regulation”, the chairman of the court said.

Smith III said that certain conditions must be met to order the judgment to be rendered without the presence of the accused.

Of course, the court feels that the accused may sometimes not be present if the need arises and may be done through their lawyer. Rule 168, point 4 says: When the accused do not want to appear, then the court may order that the judgment be rendered without the presence of the accused, but certain conditions must be met. The demands we get here are not more rejections, but rather the accused's preference to follow the judgment through video connection. Of course, when there are valid reasons for this, and we understand that the presence of the accused may not be necessary when the witness is also through video connection or when in the courtroom areas that are not directly related to witnesses”, he said.

We therefore recommend that all requests not be included in the courtroom during trial have a satisfactory reason why the accused will not be present. So have good reason. Such permits must be presented to the court within 24 hours before trial, otherwise no such situations will be allowed in”, Judge Smith III said.

Otherwise, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office, on September 30th, 2022, has handed over the confirmed amended indictment against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, which consists of ten points of charges, where the latter are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On April 29th 2022, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office had handed over a amended indictment to Hashim Thaci, Kadri Wessel, Rexhepi and Jakup Krasniqi, where four indictees have committed war crimes even in Gjilan, Budakov and Semtish.

On November 9th 2020, in their first appearances, Hashim Thaci's Jakup Krasniqi has been declared innocent of the charges placed on them. Wessel has also been declared in his presentation on November 10th, as has Rexhep Selimi on November 11th.

The incident against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselin, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi is confirmed on October 26, 2020.