The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) requested that the former president of Kosovo be found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison in the obstruction of justice case at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
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The request was addressed to the single judge of the case, Christopher Gosnell, by special prosecutor Joshua Hafetz, at the end of his closing statement.
The prosecution said that if Thaçi is found guilty, the sentence for this case would be served “in continuation of any other sentence that will be handed down in case 6, if it is handed down.”
For the other accused in this case, the Prosecution requested that all be found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment.
The Prosecution requested that Hajredin Kuçi be sentenced to nine months in prison, while Fadil Fazliu, Isni Kilaj and Bashkim Smakaj each be sentenced to three years in prison.
“The charges that the SPO has brought and proven are crimes. The attempt to interfere with and obstruct the judicial process in this court poses a threat to the proper administration of justice,” said prosecutor Hafetz.
At the first session for the presentation of closing statements, only Thaçi is present in the courtroom, while the other accused are following the session via video link.
The defense and prosecutors will have three days to present their closing arguments in this case related to the trial against Thaçi and three other former KLA leaders.
After the Prosecution, it is Thaçi’s defense’s turn.
Closing statements will be held today, tomorrow and on Monday, September 14. Two days after the end of the closing statements, Thaçi together with Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi will appear before the trial panel to face the verdict for war crimes during the 1998-‘99 war in Kosovo. For each of them, the Prosecution has requested 45 years in prison. All four have denied all charges.
Prosecution: Recordings and documents confirm attempts to influence witnesses
Specialist prosecutor Kimberly West, at the start of the SPO’s closing statement, said that Thaçi and the other co-accused for months tried to influence the testimonies of witnesses in the criminal case for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Together with his collaborators in this process he tried to obstruct this process by interfering in the testimonies of these witnesses and he was caught. He was caught with many hours of recordings and documents that confirm the recordings in question,” she said.
West described Thaçi’s other co-accused as his collaborators, devoted friends, loyalists, and former subordinates, whom, according to her, Thaçi instructed “to target witnesses whose testimony, according to him, was crucial for the war crimes trial.”
West claimed that the instructions were varied, from requests to change testimonies, or to place or not place Thaçi in certain locations where crimes were alleged to have been committed.
According to her, by creating small groups, Thaçi instructed his co-accused on how to tailor witness testimonies to “his narrative.”
The prosecutor said that testimonies were printed at the detention center and discussed during visits there.
She also claimed that Thaçi had also discussed with the other accused about the KLA hierarchy and how the witnesses, with their testimony, as she said, would diminish his commanding role.
Prosecution presents parts of recordings
Then the special prosecutor, Joshua Hafetz, also presented parts of recordings between Thaçi and the other co-accused, accusing the defense of trying to “evade” the evidence, which, according to him, carries great weight.
Hafetz said that the parts that are not clearly heard, the Prosecution has not used, while adding that Thaçi whispered during the instructions.
In the courtroom, parts of Thaçi’s conversations with Fazliu were shown regarding the testimony of Rrustem Mustafa – Remi. The Prosecution claims that Thaçi, through Fazliu and his son, instructed Mustafa on how to testify a few days later in The Hague for case number 6 – for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Prosecution also said that just one day after Thaçi’s instruction, Fazliu returned to Kosovo and contacted Mustafa, through his son Fahri Fazliu, and a few days later informed Thaçi about the conversation and Thaçi again instructed him about Mustafa’s testimony.
“Twelve hours without slipping somewhere, he can’t. Tell him briefly, ‘yes’, ‘no’. He has his statements well, but he can slip, because they are long. Tell him to shorten them,” Thaçi is heard telling Fazliu in the recording played in court.
Prosecutor Hafetz claimed that during Fazliu’s visits to the detention center in The Hague, Thaçi also disclosed confidential information, namely identified a piece of evidence about which Mustafa would be questioned during testimony and a book about which prosecutors would question him. According to the prosecutor, Thaçi gave instructions on how Mustafa should testify.
The prosecutor also mentioned a visit by Hajredin Kuçi with Thaçi in The Hague, at a time when Kuçi was part of Veseli’s defense. He said that Kuçi contacted Mustafa via message, knowing that it is forbidden to contact witnesses without prior court authorization.
The Prosecution said that with this, Kuçi did not obey the court.
Furthermore, to describe the close relationship that according to the Prosecution exists between Thaçi and Kuçi, during the visit in The Hague, the Prosecution said that Kuçi referred to Thaçi 90 times with the word “boss [shef]”, while Thaçi called him “Hajro” over 50 times.
The Prosecution claims that Thaçi targeted three witnesses through Kuçi, two former KLA members and an alleged victim of KLA members.
“The targeting of witnesses was for him [Thaçi] to prepare his preferred narrative that he had no criminal responsibility for the acts presented in case 6,” said prosecutor Hafetz.
Hafetz said that one of the targeted witnesses was Sylejman Selimi, aka witness number 5.
According to the prosecutor, during the meeting of September 3, 2023, Thaçi instructed Kuçi that Selimi should say that the commanders of the KLA zones had sole authority.
“Tell him that the satellite phone was brought to him by the diaspora… [Adem] Demaçi made some regulations,” Thaçi is heard whispering in the recording played in court.
With Kuçi, the book about which Mustafa would be questioned was also discussed and, according to the Prosecution, through Kuçi, Thaçi sent instructions on how Selimi should testify.
The other witness, whom according to the Prosecution Thaçi instructed Kuçi on how to testify, was Bislim Zyrapi, known as witness number 2.
According to the prosecuting body, in recordings, Thaçi requested that Zyrapi change his testimony – after he had previously presented him as an authority over the General Staff – and say that he, Thaçi and other persons, including Veseli, became members of the General Staff of the KLA in November 1998.
“Thaçi needs to give accurate answers about the structure of the General Staff, to minimize his criminal responsibility before November ’98,” the prosecutor said.
As for the third witness, he was identified only as witness 6, as he is a protected witness. The prosecutor said he cannot publicly provide details about him, but Thaçi’s instructions, according to him, were that he not be directly implicated by this witness in any crime.
The Prosecution then continued with Kilaj’s involvement in this case. The prosecutor said that Kilaj visited Thaçi initially in February 2023 – a few days after Thaçi had accepted the identities of protected witnesses.
Other persons were also present at the visit. The Prosecution claims that in that meeting Thaçi instructed Kilaj on how the witnesses should testify. Specifically, it concerns protected witness number 4.
Later, Kilaj visited Thaçi again in October, when according to the Prosecution, Thaçi gave him the witness’s testimony and asked him exactly what to change.
In recordings, according to the Prosecution, Thaçi requests that part six, page seven and line 9 be corrected.
The witness, according to the Prosecution, had implicated Thaçi in alleged mistreatment.
Materials of the witness’s testimony and confidential materials, the Prosecution said were found in Kilaj’s possession as well as instructions on how he should testify.
At the end of the closing statement, the Prosecution spoke about the involvement of Bashkim Smakaj in this case.
According to the Prosecution, he had been instructed by Thaçi on how Bislim Zyrapi should testify. The Prosecution said that Smakaj was also found with a confidential document in his personal car, which they claimed he took from the detention center in The Hague from Thaçi.
Also, the SPO said that Smakaj had met and communicated with Zyrapi after the visit in The Hague.
The prosecutor said that the recordings show the pattern followed by Thaçi, requesting that Zyrapi be asked to testify briefly and answer “I don’t remember” or “I don’t know” to certain topics.
Charges for obstruction of justice
Thaçi, as well as Smakaj, Kilaj, Fazliu and Kuçi, are accused that, between April and November 2023, they influenced the testimonies of witnesses called by the prosecutors for the criminal case for war crimes against Thaçi himself and other former KLA leaders.
Thaçi faces three charges of attempting to obstruct official persons in performing official duties and eight charges for violating the secrecy of proceedings and disobedience to the court.
Smakaj, Kilaj and Fazliu face, each, one charge of attempting to obstruct official persons in performing official duties and one charge for disobedience to the court.
Meanwhile, Kuçi faces two charges for disobedience to the court.
All five have pleaded not guilty.
The trial against them began on February 27, while on March 13, the Prosecution completed the presentation of evidence.
If Thaçi is found not guilty of war crimes, is he released immediately?
In Kosovo, questions have been raised whether the former president can immediately return to the country, if the court acquits him of charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Special Court, “when a detained accused is found not guilty, he is released immediately, except when he is held in detention lawfully, or is serving a sentence for criminal offenses different from those for which he was found not guilty.”
“In Mr. Thaçi’s case, detention was ordered by the trial panel in the proceedings against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as by the single judge in the separate proceeding against him for obstruction of justice. Therefore, if Mr. Thaçi is found not guilty in the war crimes and crimes against humanity proceeding, the question of whether he will continue to be detained will be decided by the single judge examining the obstruction of justice case,” Michael Doyle, the spokesperson for the Specialist Chambers, had told Radio Free Europe in August.
The single judge must review every two months whether detention continues to be reasonable.
“He can also examine this issue at the request of the accused, if there has been a change of circumstances,” Doyle added.
The last decision, the tenth in a row for the continuation of detention, the single judge issued on July 31, assessing that there is still a risk that Thaçi will obstruct the proceedings or commit other criminal offenses.
In the same decision, the judge also set the deadlines for the next review of detention: Thaçi may submit his submissions by September 7. If he does not do so, the Prosecution must submit its position by September 14, while Thaçi may respond by September 21.
Thaçi has been at the detention center in The Hague since November 2020, when he was arrested on charges of war crimes.
Since then, all of Thaçi’s defense submissions for release from detention have been rejected. Moreover, he was not even granted a bail of 50 thousand euros, along with several conditions that Thaçi undertook to abide by, in exchange for release from detention.
War crimes charges
Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi, are accused of acts such as murder, torture and persecution, allegedly committed during 1998-’99 during the war for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.
All four have denied these charges and have pleaded not guilty to charges involving about 155 victims.
The prosecutors have requested that they be found guilty and each be sentenced to 45 years in prison for the alleged crimes.
Over 130 witnesses testified, while 160 written statements of other witnesses were admitted in this trial over three years of sessions.
The trial against them ended in February.
The Special Court is formally part of Kosovo’s judicial system but is composed of international judges and prosecutors.
The trial against former KLA leaders has encountered numerous objections in Kosovo, as it is seen as one-sided, since it does not include crimes committed by Serbs in Kosovo’s territory.
Since then, across Kosovo, large banners and posters have been placed with the message “Freedom has a name” and photographs of former KLA leaders.
There have also been protests against this process in The Hague, in Prishtina and in other cities.
Thousands of citizens participated in the protest “Justice, not politics” on Kosovo’s Independence Day on February 17 this year in Prishtina, in support of Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi./ REL
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