The Specialist Chambers’ Trial Panel rejected yesterday the joint request of the defense teams of former Kosovo leaders Hashim Thaci, Rexhep Selimi, Kadri Veseli, and Jakup Krasniqi to remove from the indictment all incidents which, according to the defense, fall outside the period of armed conflict.
Presiding Judge Charles Smith said that removing the period before the end of May 1998 and after June 20th, 1999, would fragment the case. Smith also said that court rules provide for objections to the indictment as a whole, not objections to individual counts of the indictment, as done by the defendants’ defense teams.
“As for the substance of the defense’s objection, the Panel notes that the incidents and allegations related to the period contested by the defense are not charges within the meaning of Rule 130. Rather, they are material facts related to the charges and counts of the indictment. What the defense is contesting, therefore, is not a charge, but part of a charge in the form of certain material facts that constitute the charges or counts of the indictment,” said Smith.
Smith stated that even if these objections by the defense were successful, the request by the defendants’ defense would not lead to the dismissal of any of the counts of the indictment.
The presiding judge said he has no authority to assess the objection of the defendants’ defense under Rule 130 and that this assessment will be made at the end of the trial.
“The Trial Panel does not need to go into the merits of the defense arguments regarding the beginning and end of the non-international armed conflict. The question of the time span of the armed conflict relevant to this case will be resolved at the end of the trial when a decision on the merits of the case will be made,” said the judge.
The trial is expected to continue with the testimony of the victims’ counsel witnesses.
Former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi have been in detention in The Hague since November 2020.
The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office accuses Thaci and the others of alleged war crimes. They have pleaded not guilty.
The trial began on April 3rd, 2023, nearly three years after the indictment was confirmed.
