September 2021 is the latest deadline according The- Hague based Specialist Prosecutor for the trial against the leaders of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to begin.
Kosovo Specialist Chambers published the submissions further to the status conference of November 18, about the trial against KLA senior figures, Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.
“The Defence must have a fair opportunity to prepare for trial but given what has been and will be provided to and what is already known by the Defence, this should take months, not years. For this reason, the SPO submits that trial in this matter should commence this summer or no later than September 2021,” Specialist Prosecutor Jack Smith wrote.
Such proposal was made last week before the pre-trial judge, Nicolas Guillou but was strongly opposed by the defence, who called it as “absolutely absurd”.
“Prosecution may have had five years, ten years to investigate this, but I arrived here last week […] it is ridiculous,” Rexhep Selimi’s lawyer David Young said.
Former Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci, former Parliament Speaker Kadri Veseli, former Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi and the former MP Rexhep Selimi are indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Four of them were members of the KLA Headquarters holding high leading 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.
