HAGUE – The Office of Special Prosecutor requested today in Specialised Chambers for Kosovo in Hague, prison sentences of 45 years for former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi, who are charged with war crimes in Kosovo and Albania between 1998 and 1999, FoNet reported.
At the start of closing arguments, Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West stated that the evidence presented during the trial demonstrated that the crimes outlined in the indictment had been committed and that “the accused bear criminal responsibility.”
“The evidence justifies long prison sentences for all defendants,” West added.
Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi, and Krasniqi are accused of committing crimes against Serbs, Roma, and Albanians deemed “collaborators,” in approximately 40 KLA detention facilities in Kosovo, as well as in Kukës and Cahan in northern Albania, from March 1998 to November 1999.
The chief prosecutor specified that the defendants are responsible for the deaths of at least 100 victims and the abuse of hundreds of others.
West also highlighted as proven the allegation that the four KLA leaders were “participants in a joint criminal enterprise” aimed at seizing control over all of Kosovo.
According to West, their targets included anyone perceived as “opponents” of the KLA – Serbs, Roma, Albanians labelled as collaborators with Serbian authorities, and members of Ibrahim Rugova’s Democratic League of Kosovo.
Citing the evidence, Prosecutor West argued that the accused were “key members of the KLA General Staff” and that “operational zone commanders took orders from them, not the other way around,” countering the defense’s claims.
Before the trial panel led by US presiding judge Charles Smith, prosecutors and defense lawyers will present their closing arguments by 18 February.
Under tribunal rules, the verdict for the four former KLA leaders is expected within 90 days. If the judges require more time, the deadline may be extended by an additional 60 days.
The indictment charges Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi, and Krasniqi with individual criminal responsibility for acts committed by KLA members during a non-international armed conflict, in the context of “widespread and systematic attacks on persons suspected of opposing the KLA”.
The ten-count indictment accuses the four of persecution on political and ethnic grounds, imprisonment, unlawful arrest and detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, enforced disappearances, torture (two counts), and murder (two counts).
According to the indictment, KLA members committed crimes against approximately 407 detainees, at least 102 of whom were killed between March 1998 and September 1999. Among the victims identified were 51 Serbs, 23 Albanians, and one Roma individual.
