Special Court in Hague Extends Deadline for Handing Down Verdict in Thaci Trial to July 20

Hashim Thaci (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

A special court in The Hague trying Kosovo Liberation Army crimes has extended the deadline for issuing a verdict in the trial against former KLA leader Hashim Thaci and co-defendants, charged with crimes committed in Kosovo and Albania in 1998, from May 19 to July 20 due to the volume and complexity of the case.

In a decision announced on May 6, the trial chamber, with judge Charles Smith presiding, did not rule out an additional postponement if "absolutely" necessary. Thaci's co-defendants in charges of crimes against ethnic Albanians, Serbs and Roma in over 40 KLA detention centers in Kosovo are Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.

At the time the crimes in the indictment were committed, all defendants were members of the KLA headquarters. At the end of the trial, in February, the prosecution asked the trial chamber to find all defendants guilty and sought 45-year sentences. The defense argued that the prosecution did not prove its case and asked for an acquittal.

The trial chamber specified that it had the testimony of some 270 witnesses, given in the courtroom or in affidavits, and 5,497 items entered into evidence to consider. The statement noted that the trial transcripts were 29,238 pages long. The charges against Thaci, 58, Veseli, 58, Selimi, 55 and Krasniqi, 75, include crimes against Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanians declared "collaborationists" in over 40 KLA detention centers in Kosovo, but also Kukesh and Cahan in northern Albania, perpetrated from March 1998 to November 1999.