Krasniqi's lawyer: A witness said he remembers Rugova referring to him U n CK as Serbian <x0-game”

We have heard a witness say that he remembers Rugova being quoted as saying the KLA was a Serbian game”, Ellis said.

But Austrian diplomat Jan Kickert, who is continuing the testimony Wednesday at The Hague, said he does not remember that.

Lawyer Ellis, who is continuing to question Kickert, focused in the summer of 1998 when as part of foreign diplomacy, the witness was making efforts to contact KLA representatives to form a platform for Kosovo Albanians to be involved in negotiations.

Ellis said there have been statements by members of the Democratic League of Kosovo saying the KLA was “part of the Serbian Army”.

“There has been a statement from the LDK by some LDK members who said the KLA did not exist as part or was part of the Serbian Army perhaps”, Ellis said.

After that, the witness said there had been opportunities for such words to exist since there was fear in the Albanian population of losing the political monopoly that the LDK had.

There was no such thing as this, but as I tried to explain yesterday, there was a kind of political game if I could say so and there was a kind of approach that in the Albanian population there was fear of losing the political monopoly that the LDK had and therefore could circulate other words”, the witness said.

Prior to that, the witness said some LDK members denied the KLA's existence.

Some of the LDK members denied the existence of the KLA, this is true”, the witness said.

The Austrian diplomat said that by mid- 1998 he had realised Jakup Krasniqi had the position of KLA spokesman. And before he was appointed, the witness said that Bardhil Mahmut was in this position.

The “was Bardhil Mahmut, a spokesman working in Geneva, but I still don't believe he ever reported before the contact group”, the witness said.

The witness claimed that Rame Bouja and Jakup Krasniqi were LDK officials before the KLA was locked up. While at the meeting he had had with the accused, the former Austrian diplomat said he was introduced by name.

Mr. Krasniqi had no nicknames and we were simply speculating what number he could have, said Kickert.

However, the witness said that at that meeting he had had with Krasniqi and other KLA members, he did not believe the accused could already make decisions.

In the notes the witness had released from the meeting with Jakup Krasniqi and others, he had written that someone had once told him not to accept Milazim Krasniqi's list to discuss.

For that, the witness said the KLA was denying the fact that Milazim Krasniqi was the leader of the Albanian platform in Kosovo, as he was considered close to Rugova.

“Yes, the KLA through our conversationors was denying the fact that Milazim Krasniqi would be the leader of this platform in Kosovo because he was considered very close to Rugova”, he said.

Austrian diplomat added that Jakup Krasniqi had spoken about it, but without excluding others.

As I recall, Jakup Krasniqi spoke to speak. He was a spokesman. I cannot say by percentage points who has spoken and how much of the meeting, but Jakup Krasniqi has been one of the speakers at this” meeting, he 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. /Betimy for Justice