Appeal not expected to change the decision” / lawyer tearful for former KLA leaders: even dissolution of The Hague does not affect the 81 years of sentence

Lawyer and Oxford researcher Rudina Jasini commented via a live link on the “Top Story” show on the Hague decision sentencing former KLA leaders.

Tearful during her reaction, Jasini described the situation as an extremely painful reality. According to her, the issue with this court begins with the law on the basis of which it was established.

Responding to the question whether the Appeal could affect the sentencing of the former leaders, the lawyer said she does not expect any radical change. She also emphasized that, even if the court were to be dissolved, such a decision would have no effect on the 81 years of sentences already handed down.

Jasini stated that it is difficult to find words for what she described as a dark moment in the history of the Albanian nation. Referring to the way the institution was set up and the approach of the judges, she said that the guilty verdict was not unpredictable. According to the lawyer, the founding law has created such procedural space for the judges that makes this court unprecedented. She stressed that this is a court of Kosovo, but administered by internationals.

According to her, during the process, which lasted 5 and a half years, the prosecution did not present the case as based on crimes. Jasini raised questions whether the law was sufficiently examined at the time the Constitution was changed and it was drafted, considering it very problematic and responsible for the sentences and the consequences that ensued.

She also expressed doubts about the Appeals phase, because, as she said, in three cases related to the KLA war, the appeals court did not deviate much from the initial decisions. For this reason, Jasini considers a radical change impossible. She added that even an immediate vote to dissolve the court would have no power over what has already been decided.

The lawyer said that the current reality is extremely painful, recalling that she has been very close to these individuals and has seen them also in the human dimension, including the deprivation of liberty and the denial of parole.

According to Jasini, it is difficult to imagine handing down a 25-year sentence and maintaining that composure in the courtroom. She said that these individuals have the traits of leaders, because the era turned them into such, and that it was not they who chose the war, but the war that chose them.

Jasini also contested the fact that the decisions were handed down in the name of the people of Kosovo, whereas, according to her, no Albanian citizen, except the interpreter, was given the opportunity to be part of it. She described as merely formal the claim that the sentence was imposed on behalf of the people of Kosovo, saying that it cannot in any way be considered as such.

In conclusion, the lawyer described the decision as a national tragedy for the people of Kosovo and Albania. She called for Albanians to be ever more vigilant in the future, so that they know how to respond to these currents.