Two more months of pretrial detention for Veseli and Krasniqi one day before the verdict on Thaçi and the others

Just one day before the verdict is due to be announced for Hashim Thaçi and the other former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Judge Charles Smith approved the extension of the pretrial detention measure for Kadri Veseli and Jakup Krasniqi. The news was reported from The Hague by journalist Rina Mujku.

The new detention measure will remain in force for another two months, according to Mujku’s reports.

She explained that this was a procedural step that had to be taken because the deadlines were expiring. The previous decision on the matter had been issued on July 15, and today marked the deadline for a new decision. However, Mujku pointed out that Judge Smith could have waited at least until tomorrow, when the final verdict for all the accused will be announced, and then made a decision on the four of them as a whole.

On August 10, the court had ruled that Thaçi should also remain in pretrial detention.

In the same ruling, presiding judge Charles Smith instructed the parties not to submit any further requests concerning the next review of the continuation of the former president of Kosovo’s detention. According to the procedural calendar, such a review had been scheduled for October 9, 2026.

The Trial Panel reasoned that such a hearing was no longer considered necessary, given that the date for the verdict had been set for September 16.

At the end of July, Selimi’s pretrial detention was also extended. The judicial panel announced at the time that the next review had initially been scheduled for September 28.