Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) announced on Wednesday that the hearing against the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, scheduled to be held on Thursday, is postponed for February 16.
The- Hague based court did not give any details on the decision to postpone the hearing, while the former adviser to former President Hashim Thaci, Adil Behramaj said that the KSC is making political calculations in the case of Thaçi and others.
“Even at the Special Chambers they are afraid of the appearance of Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli. They are afraid that their one-day media presence will affect the voters and spoil their political scenario that are trying to implement in the name of justice,” Behramaj wrote on Facebook.
Snap parliamentary elections in Kosovo are set to be held on Sunday. Thaci was the funder and led the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) until he was appointed President in 2016. Following Thaci’s appointment, the party was led by Veseli until November 2020, when they both were transferred to detention facilities in The Hague, facing war crimes indictments.
“This is more proof that their departure from the political scene in the name of justice was and remains completely synchronized,” Behramaj.
Specialist Prosecutor Office (SPO) insists for the trial against Thaci, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi to begin in September.
Former Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci, former Parliament Speaker Kadri Veseli, former Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi, and former MP Rexhep Selimi are indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Four of them were members of the KLA and held high-level positions during the war.
The charges against them consist of six counts of crimes against humanity, namely: persecution, imprisonment, other inhumane acts, torture, murder and enforced disappearance of persons. And four counts of war crimes, namely: arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture, and murder.
