According to court filings published on Thursday, prosecutors in the war crimes trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci are seeking to impose restrictions on his communications and keep him separated from other detainees. This is due to concerns that he and two co-accused individuals are attempting to influence witnesses.
The prosecutors have requested judges to order the immediate segregation and suspension of all communications for Thaci and the two other former top leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army who are on trial with him. Thaci’s lawyers have stated that it is premature to respond publicly to the allegations at this moment.
Thaci and his three co-defendants have been on trial since April, facing 10 charges including persecution, murder, torture, and forced disappearance of people during and shortly after the 1998-99 guerrilla uprising that led to Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. However, they deny these charges.
Further allegations from prosecutors indicate that Thaci and two co-accused individuals have been exposing the identities of protected witnesses to their visitors in detention, and have even seemingly instructed them on what to say to potential witnesses. The document also shows that prosecutors, with the judges’ permission, have recorded the suspects’ conversations with visitors.
Prosecutors have reported that multiple protected witnesses in the Thaci cases have reported being approached by individuals trying to prevent or influence their testimony. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, established in 2015 and located in the Netherlands, is staffed by international judges and lawyers and was specifically set up to handle cases under Kosovo law against former KLA guerrillas.
This was done to address concerns over potential witness intimidation, as the former KLA leaders are regarded as heroes in Kosovo. More than 13,000 people, primarily Kosovo Albanians, are believed to have died during the insurgency when Kosovo was still a province of Serbia under the rule of President Slobodan Milosevic.
The request for restrictions on Thaci’s communications and his separation from other detainees is pending a ruling from the judges. It is not currently clear when a decision will be reached.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Sharon Singleton)
