Will there be easing measures against KLA leaders following prosecution witnesses?

The decision, according to judges and civil society, is still open, but risks highlighted by the prosecution can be used as reasons to continue the ban.

The Special Court in The Hague in response to Online Economy, announced that this case remains in court's hands and depends on risk assessment, broadcasts Periscope.

Angela Greep, chief of the Public Information and Communication Unit in Specialised Chambers, points out that every two months the need for detention is reviewed, but no guarantee is given for any imminent change.

The judges are required by law to examine every two months if there are still reasons to keep someone in custody. Before judges decide, both sides -- defence and prosecution -- have the opportunity to give their opinions. Judges then determine whether there is the danger of a detainee escaping, preventing the progress of proceedings, and/or committing further crimes. They also determine whether these risks, if there are, can be softened through other measures other than the continued detention of an accused”, Greep said.

It explains that judges assess whether there is a danger of running away, hindering procedures, or performing other works, as well as whether these risks can be eased with easier measures.

“Officially, it will be up to the Judicial Chamber to determine whether all or some of these risks continue to exist after the prosecution has completed presenting their evidence and, if so, if the risks can be softened through other measures besides continuing the detention of the accused”, she said.

Bekim Blakaj from the Fund for Humanitarian Law estimates that easing the security measure has been long discussed, but has always been rejected because of a single reason: influence on witnesses.

He recalls that there is already a special indictment for obstructing justice against Hashim Thaci, who, according to him, would be used as a means to justify keeping in custody.

He says conditions for domestic detention or other measures have matured, since the process has lasted too long and the accused have been kept for a long time without movement in this regard.

The prosecution's “evidence has already been administered, so there are no new witnesses proposed by the prosecution. The issue of easing the measure of security is one that has been discussed a lot in the past, and the Prosecution has always found different reasonings. However, their main reasoning has been the impact on witnesses, for which there really is a new indictment for harming justice administration, or obstructing the administration of justice against former President Thaci, and I fear that this will now be used as an additional argument for the prosecution even for the Court not to stop his custody. I actually think that conditions are ripe to ease measures with domestic custody or with any other measure, because the process has also lasted too long, too, the accused in custody. I have a conviction that won't happen soon to ease security measures”, he said.

Blakaj also comments on the defence phase, envisioning a shorter length of evidence management than that of the Prosecutor.

I think that even though the defense was really supposed to have the same time as the Prosecutor, I think this administration of evidence proposed by defense and defense witnesses will be shorter than the prosecution's, no matter what there are four defence teams and each team has the right to propose their witnesses. In this case as far as we have seen, we think they will co-operate with defence teams and bring in the same witnesses that you hired on four sides”, he said.

Regarding the timing of the process's completion, Blakaj adds that expectations are that an act of first degree could come over the next year.

At this moment no one can with days or perhaps even the panel itself, because it can extend the number of days that some witnesses have to hear. I'm believing that maybe next year will be somewhere over the next year we can expect a first-instance trial, then normal there's an appeal rate and so on,”, he told EO.