What is happening with the second indictment against Thaçi?

The former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, became part of the media headlines again, as a result of new developments in the Special Court. After the second indictment was filed against him in The Hague, he insisted that the Constitution and laws of Kosovo be respected. However, he has given a little detail about what exactly he is talking about.

As the first court case against the former senior leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaçi, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, is coming to an end in The Hague, the Special Court has filed a second indictment against him - this time for obstruction of justice , turning all attention on him and his statements.

Thaçi, the former president of Kosovo, has repeated, at least twice in the last few weeks, the necessity of respecting the Constitution and the laws of Kosovo by the Special, as he has mentioned that the two indictments against him were filed just a few months before the elections were held in Kosovo.

"I am not part of the political race, nor do I have any political ambitions, neither for president, nor for prime minister, nor for deputy, nor any other ambition for any public position. I emphasize that I am not an obstacle and I do not present a danger to anyone, in the political sense, nor to any government project", said Thaçi in court .

Regarding the mention of the Constitution by Thaçi, legal experts have little to comment. Not having access to the full indictment against him, and not wanting to get into speculation, they expect Thaçi himself, or his defense lawyer, to provide more details when they plead guilty to the second indictment.

Thaçi's lawyer, Lluka Misetiq, did not respond to Radio Evropa e Lire's questions to clarify his client's statements.

The executive director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), Ehat Miftaraj, told Radio Evropa e Lire that "based on the Constitution, based on the Code of Criminal Procedure, there are some rights of the defendant in the procedure, for which he is thinking that he is not being respected".

"If the indictment is not based on the law, then there is no doubt that it is a violation of the Constitution, because the Constitution protects the equality of the parties in the procedure, it has certain guarantees for the defendants, that an indictment can only be filed when there is a legal basis, when there evidence, when there are arguments".

Thaçi must plead guilty within 30 days. The second indictment against him was approved on November 29, while it was made public on December 7.

Miftaraj has repeated the continuous calls of the IKD for the judges and prosecutors of the Special Court to maintain the integrity of the judicial process - to ensure that witnesses are not threatened , and that there are consequences for those who make the threat.

"It is said that since 2023-2024, these people [Thaçi and others] have participated in the intimidation of witnesses, and the arrests take place at the end of 2024. From the criminal point of view, it is incomprehensible how, despite having information for a year, they have not taken action, but they are finally taking it".

Miftaraj has considered it very important to have an epilogue to the main trial, and not to pay attention to the second procedure.

"Almost at the end of the questioning of the witnesses, when two or three months are left, starting a new indictment, from a legal point of view, from a logical point of view, does not make much sense."

Miftaraj sees Thaçi's statement, where he makes a connection between the indictments and the elections in Kosovo, as political and very general.

Meanwhile, the legal researcher at the Fund for Humanitarian Law in Kosovo, Amer Alija, believes that they will not even be taken into account by the court.

"These statements do not matter at all for the legal procedures, since the elections in Kosovo do not concern the defense, nor the Court, nor the trial panel in the proceedings in which he is charged".

Thaçi, former head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, has been in custody in the Netherlands since November 2020.

The Special Court was established in 2015 by the Assembly of Kosovo and is part of the Kosovo judicial system, but operates with international personnel in The Hague.

This court investigates alleged crimes by members of the KLA , committed against ethnic minorities and political rivals, from January 1998 to December 2000.

The work of the Court is funded by the European Union and several other Western countries. The lawyers are paid

from the budget of Kosovo , as well as the trips of the witnesses and the visits of the family members of the accused. The issue of compensation for victims is not well regulated by the laws on which the Court was formed.

Both Miftaraj and Alija have assessed that based on what has been accessible to the public, the Court is doing a good job and is impartial.

However, Miftaraj said that "at least one of the judges is seen to be leaving his role as a judge. We have seen many times leading questions, suggestive questions, or in some way trying to get an answer that he likes from the witnesses", as he refused to identify him.

Those who know justice do not see any problem even about the meetings that have been reported to have taken place between the officials of the Court with some representatives of the sponsoring countries, saying that they are friendly countries of Kosovo, and that they do not believe that in those meetings anything was discussed case or test, but for the general progress of the work of this institution.

So far, the Special Court has announced two verdicts for war crimes, against Salih Mustafa and Pjetër Shala , and two more for obstructing the administration of justice, against Nasim Haradinaj and Hysni Gucat./REL

  (A2 Televizion)