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After almost 600 days in the detention center in The Hague, the Netherlands, the two leaders of the Organization of War Veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army (OVL-KLA), Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, will learn on May 18 the decision for them, to taken from the Kosovo Specialized Chambers, otherwise known as the Special Court.
Gucati and Haradinaj are charged with criminal offenses against the administration of justice, namely for obstructing officials in the performance of official duties, for intimidating witnesses, for revenge and for violating the secrecy of the procedure.
Both Gucati and Haradinaj could be sentenced to six years in prison each, if the court complies with the proposal of the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO), which, in addition to the six-year prison sentence, has proposed a symbolic fine. of 100 euros for each.
Almost 20 months have passed since the arrest of Gucat and Haradinaj.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution has insisted that the two of them, organized, intended to damage the reputation of the Special Court, as well as to obstruct its work.
““They committed the crimes because they wanted to obstruct the work of this court, to intimidate and take revenge on witnesses.” said the prosecutor of the case, James Pacen, in his closing remarks, while justifying the proposal for their sentence of six years in prison each.
The Special Court and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office were established by a decision of the Assembly of Kosovo in August 2015 and their mission is to investigate the alleged crimes of former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, committed against ethnic minorities and political rivals, since January. of 1998 to December 2000.
Gucati and Haradinaj were arrested in September 2020, following suspicions that in several press conferences from the OVL headquarters of the KLA they distributed classified documents of the Special Court.
As alleged in the indictment, in those documents – copies of which were distributed to journalists – there were also names of potential witnesses who could testify against former superiors of the Kosovo Liberation Army, including the case against the former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, former chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kadri Veseli, former Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Jakup Krasniqi, and former MP of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Rexhep Selimi.
The Specialized Chambers of Kosovo, after the leak of these documents, have refused for a while to confirm their authenticity, but, as evidenced during the trial, the court and the prosecution refer to them as “official documents” of this institution. Whereas, OVL-KLA said that these documents were sent to her by an anonymous person.
The indictment of the SPO states that from 7 to 25 September, 2020, on the occasion of three press conferences and other broadcast events, as well as through further distribution, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj have discovered, without authorization, information protected by the Law on Specialized Chambers and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, including the identification details of some (potential) witnesses.
Defendants have also made derogatory accusations and remarks against (potential) witnesses and have repeatedly expressed their intention to dismantle the Specialized Chambers.
The charges include two criminal offenses against public order, namely obstruction of official persons in the performance of official duties, as well as four criminal offenses against the administration of justice and public administration. These charges are intimidation during criminal proceedings, revenge and violation of the secrecy of the proceedings.
Gucati and Haradinaj pleaded not guilty and, during the trial, insisted that they had not committed any legal violations. They have described the Kosovo Specialized Chambers as a “single-ethnic court” which, as they said, aims only at “punishing Albanians”, while amnestying, according to them, crimes committed by Serbian military and police forces in Kosovo.
During the trial, they said that they did not know whether the documents they published were original or not, but insisted that the Special Court “is discriminatory against Albanians”.
In the closing statement of the prosecution, the Chief Prosecutor of the SPO, Jack Smith, described Gucati and Haradinaj as “unique defendants”.
“These accused are unique, because they have not repented. “They have gone further and said, in many ways, that they will commit this crime, or a similar crime in the future, if given the chance,” said Prosecutor Smith on March 17.
The prosecution has repeatedly insisted that the most appropriate measure for Gucat and Haradinaj is imprisonment.
Cadman: This verdict will show the court’s commitment to justice
Defense attorneys Toby Cadman and Jonathan Rees have challenged the evidence provided by the prosecution.
In their closing remarks on the case, both said the prosecution had “failed” to substantiate the allegations.
Cadman, Nasim Haradinaj’s defense lawyer, told Radio Free Europe that the Special Prosecutor’s Office had failed to present convincing evidence to convict his client.
He has said he is confident the judges will evaluate the evidence impartially and that, in the end, they will acquit his client.
“In our concluding submissions, we stated the position that the prosecution has failed to present evidence, to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. “Mr. Haradinaj has made it quite clear in his testimony that the trust is in the hands of the judges, to give the right decision”, Cadman said for Radio Free Europe.
He also expressed confidence that the court will show, according to him, its clear commitment to justice.
“This trial is about more than the fate of my client. There are far-reaching consequences that extend beyond the four walls of the Hague Tribunal building. It is about the future of Kosovo and the people of Kosovo. “It is about justice and denied justice – justice denied to thousands of victims of Serbian aggression,” said Cadman.
Gucat’s defense lawyer, Jonathan Rees, has said he prefers not to comment before the verdict is announced in this case.
How did the trial proceed?
Since the beginning of the trial against Gucat and Haradinaj, 14 witnesses have appeared.
Four were proposed by the SPO, 6 by Hysni Gucati, 4 by Nasim Haradinaj. The number of written testimonies, meanwhile, was 18. Twelve were proposed by Gucat’s defense and six by Haradinaj’s defense.
Journalists, employees of the OVL-UCK central office, the former director of the Kosovo Police, Rashit Qalaj, as well as officials of the SPO and the Specialized Chambers testified in this trial.
The main evidence in this case is the video recordings of the OVL-KLA office, in which Gucati and Haradinaj are seen holding press conferences and presenting, as has been said, confidential documents to journalists. In some cases, they are accused of providing highly sensitive information to protected witnesses.
Where are the other cases?
Currently, the trial against the former KLA superior, Salih Mustafa, is coming to an end in the Specialized Chambers of Kosovo.
Mustafa pleads not guilty to the charges against the “Gestapo office”. So far, 13 witnesses proposed by the SPO and 15 by the defense team have been heard in this case.
On the other hand, the trial against Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi has not started yet.
They have been detained in The Hague since November 2020. The Special Prosecution Office charges them with the following offenses: persecution and imprisonment, arbitrary detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, torture, murder and enforced disappearance of persons.
Former President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi during his appearance before the Specialized Chambers in The Hague on May 10, 2022.
According to the prosecution, the alleged crimes were committed between April 1998 and August 1999, in several areas in Kosovo and Albania.
Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi have pleaded not guilty.
The trial has not yet begun in the case of another Kosovar war crimes indictee, Pjetër Shala.
The Special Court in The Hague operates under the laws of Kosovo, but with international staff.
The idea for its establishment followed a Council of Europe report in 2011, which contained allegations against former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army of kidnappings, ill-treatment, extrajudicial killings and more. The author of this report was the former rapporteur of the Council of Europe, Dick Marty.
The establishment of the court and the filing of accusations have been constantly followed by reactions and protests in Kosovo, where it has been said that, in this way, the atrocities committed by the Serbian forces during the war in Kosovo, in 1998/99, are being made. / REL
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