Thaci's and others' defence oppose admission of over 300 documents allegedly from General Staff and the Interim Government

Her request, the SPS, had submitted on 31 March 2025, two weeks before it formally announced its closure case in the case.

On April 2nd 2025, the defence has called for extending the deadline to submit the response to SPS's request by 25 April 2025. As a result, the court decided on April 22nd to deliver this answer.

Again, the defence on April 21st 2025 had requested a second extension of the deadline, which the court approved -- setting a deadline for the surrender of that requirement on April 24, 2025.

The protection of the four indictees had indicated that the SPS's request for accepting these documents is an unreasonable and harmful attempt to accept a large amount of written evidence that allegedly relates to the crucial issues of the case.

According to document, Z The SP claims these documents relate to the organisation and operation of the General Staff and the Kosovo Interim Government. They are also said to be related to the role and authority of the accused within these structures.

The defense on her presentation has said that some of the documents are written by hand, undated, unmarked and with other specifics.

According to the statement, Z The SP has also submitted handwritten documents that were seized from Selim's house, but that the Prosecutor's Office has determined when these documents are now in the hands of the accused.

The defence says that the fact that these documents were seized from Selim's residence is not proof that he may have knowledge of the information he was in them. In their view, these documents show no authorship, and the SPS has failed to support them through witnesses in order to verify the content, broadcast Periscope.

The defence had mentioned that it is also concerned with the practice, according to them, inappropriate SPS to exclude sites that are in Serbian and specifically Cyrillic style of writing in some documents.

“The ZPS has deliberately excluded these pages from translations she ordered inside her office. The defence requires that the SPS be commanded to ensure the translation of these parts into Serbian Cyrillic and/or Serbian Latin, before any decision by the Judicial Chamber concerning the authenticity of these materials”, it is said in the defence response.

According to protection, this practice of excluding these pages shows a complete disregard for the integrity of the documents in question.

The defence says that even if these sites were later added by Serbian intelligence, it is not up to the prosecution to determine what it is and what is not an integral part of a material.

If these materials are eventually accepted by the juro, protection requires that sites in Cyrillic be part of the exhibition, with corresponding translations”, the defence response is said.

The defence response also emphasizes that the prosecution has presented about 50 materials related to the so - called Special General Staff Unit. According to them, it is unclear where they were found, who found them, and under what circumstances most related documents were found.

They say similar to handwritten notes, the ZPS does not indicate whether they were found alone or as part of a larger collection of documents.

The defence says the volume of documents for this alleged Unit is much greater than necessary.

This represents the best example of SPS practice to flood the court file with questionable backgrounds and importance, at a time when there are no more SPS witnesses to put these documents” in context, it says in response.

The defence had said that the SPS has handed in empty stereotypes or drafts of reports that have been incomplete by these facilities. In addition, they say there were no witnesses to support them.

According to the defence, the former International Tribunal for Yugoslavia has found that drafts for which authorship could not be proved, seals, signatures or other formal indicators were not to be accepted.

The defence cites the fact that some documents said to have been drafts have been shown to witnesses, but that they were unable to confirm their authenticity. The defence side says it highlights the risk of accepting such documents without being tested through the Court.

The defence also takes an example of a Bislim Office statement, which reportedly testified that “for an order to enter into force, a written order must have the signature, seal and protocol number. [...] If there is no signature or seal, it cannot enter into force because administrative steps are not completed for that order to enter into force”.

According to the defence, the Office has confirmed that unwritten documents did not enter into force and that it is necessary to ask the authors of those documents.

“in particular, when the decree (draft) 1D00169 / 100169 The ET, W04752, said that although, in appearance, it looked like a document proposed by the General Staff, the fact that there was no protocol number, signature, or date means that it was not valid, had not entered into force”, says the defence statement.

The defence panel says Sylejman Selimi was also asked about several alleged decrees of the Kosovo Interim Government on April 28, 1999, which referred to his appointment as commander of the Kosovo National Guard or the appointment of Agim Ceku as chief of the KLA General Staff.

According to them, these decrees contained a block of signing “prime minister, Hashim Thaci”, about what Sylejman Selimi had said they did not contain any hand signatures.

The defence says Sylejman Selimi did not know from whom he was appointed and that he had stressed that Kosovo's Interim Government was in the process of forming at the time and that he had never seen a decree for his appointment.

In addition, Selimi, according to the defence, had said that until the KLA's transformation into the Kosovo Protection Corps, the National Guard had performed no function.

The defence has submitted that when a document contains no hand signing, the issue of its authenticity should be considered through witnesses in the courtroom. According to defence, however, Z The SP has chosen to hand over documents to complete its case by unable to verify them.

“cannot be assumed that, just because a document contains an empty signing block, for example in the name of Mr. Hashim Thaci, this document is approved by the alleged author and/or implemented. In fact, he may never have seen”, it says in the preview of four defence teams.

The defence adds that accepting evidence that has no authenticity would charge the file and that this would serve no purpose in determining the truth.

At the “B” point of their presentation, the four defence teams say the SPS has submitted a large number of documents that are supposed to be important and are of provative value to the central case of the prosecution case.

Under the defence, the Prosecution's central issue is the KLA's general structure, the standing, role and authority of the General Staff and the Interim Government. The prosecution's case also concerns the relationship between these two organs, the role, responsibilities and authority of the accused within these organs, and also “KLA Special War”

The defence says the provative value of these documents is exceeded by the biased effect, as they relate to the prosecution's central issue and that defence is denied the possibility of testing evidence.

They say the rules predict that evidence involving the acts and behavior of the accused should not be submitted according to Rule 153, and that they oppose accession under Rule 155 due to the inability that protection ask witnesses questions.

Because this evidence is presented at a late stage, defense cannot test it through SPS witnesses after the SPS case is over... In the current case, defence stresses that prejudgmental influence is particularly pronounced, among other things, in the case of models and ʹdrafts, given that some include the signing of Hashim Thaci and others have been seized in Mr. Krasniqi or Mr. Selimi. Recognition of these tools by means of the table bar prevents the defense from facing any evidence of their authorship or authenticity”, says the statement of defence.

The defence says the SPS intends to submit documents for admission, which have been sent by individuals or persons who have decided not to call, which one of them is W04762, whose identity is hidden.

“ZPS interviewed [him] He has decided not to call him. By making this choice, he cannot now seek to submit documents allegedly sent to him and related to the fundamental issues of his case, as defence cannot ask him about their authenticity, content, or meaning. Therefore, any provative value these documents may have is surpassed by the prejudgative effect”, said in the pre-protection of defence.

According to defence, this causes them irreparable damage and that these documents Z. The SP should have submitted through witnesses dealing with the General Staff and Kosovo's Interim Government.

“As: W04403, member of the KLA General Staff Directorate; W04752, Chief of Staff or Chief of the KLA General Staff, then Deputy Defence Minister at the QKP and then assistant minister responsible for Operation Arrow; W04401, Deputy Commander of Operations within the General Staff; W04290, commander of the KLA General Staff. The ZPS actively chose not to do so”, the defence statement said.

The suggestions that the defense could have used these documents during cross - examinations should also be rejected according to defence teams. They say it is not the responsibility of defence to verify the authenticity of documents submitted by the SPS.

As a result, defence requires that the court reject the total SPS request for the material admission of documents related to the KLA General Staff, the Interim Government and the so-called “Special Unit” The NLA.

Meanwhile, on April 15th 2025, the prosecution has announced that it has completed presenting evidence in the case.

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 on 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. /Profession of Justice/