The four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi will be recognized by the decision of the Special Court based in The Hague on September 16. The court justified the postponement of the decision with the numerous evidences and the complexity of the process. The KLA War Veterans Organization called the postponement of the decision unacceptable, warning of protests.
“The decision is unacceptable. We as the OVL-KLA strongly protest against this decision, against these judges. It is known that the judges are in coordination with the prosecutors. The damage is very great when the judges cooperate with the Prosecutor’s Office. We are afraid that the worst can happen, but once again I am optimistic that the leaders of the KLA will be released as innocent”, said Hysni Gucati, Chairman of the KLA’s OVL.
The elected deputy of the PDK, Artan Behrami, said that the last decision of the Special is scandalous.
“Even the protest is a democratic tool to show both The Hague and the funding countries of this court that the people of Kosovo are with the leaders of the KLA and that the people of Kosovo do not accept any sentencing verdict from a court that has systematically violated human rights, violated all the norms of justice and a fair and just trial”.
For PDK chairman Bedri Hamza, the Special Court in The Hague is acting more as a political instrument than as a court guided by the principles of law. Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in 1998-1999, accusations that have been rejected by the 4 former KLA commanders, while the Special Prosecutor’s Office has requested a sentence of 45 years in prison for each.
