21.07.2021 – 19:41
The hearings against the former KLA leaders in the Special Court in The Hague have ended.
At the end of this hearing, Judge Nicola Guillou proposed that the next conference be held on 13 or 14 September.
A request with which the prosecution has agreed, while there is no date for the start of the trial.
But what are the former KLA leaders accused of?
Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, former Democratic Party of Kosovo leader Kadri Veseli, former KLA General Staff member Rexhep Selimi and former KLA spokesman Jakup Krasniqi are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Indictment against Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi
They have been detained in The Hague since November 2020, but have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
According to the indictment, Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi are suspected of war crimes related to war crimes: illegal or arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and unlawful murder and crimes against humanity, imprisonment, other inhumane acts, disappearances force of persons and persecution.
Works which, according to the Specialized Chamber, were committed between March 1998 and September 1999.
The crimes are alleged to have been committed in several areas of Kosovo and northern Albania, namely Kukës and Cahan.
The Specialized Chambers and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, or as it is otherwise known, the Special Court, investigate the alleged crimes of members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, committed against ethnic minorities and political rivals from January 1998 to December 2000.
These alleged crimes are mentioned in a 2011 Council of Europe report authored by Swiss Senator Dick Marty.