The appeal of the Specialized Chambers of Kosovo in The Hague has authorized the defense teams of the former leaders of the KLA that the statements of their appeals can contain up to 7 thousand words, instead of the usual limit of 3 thousand.
The appeal partially accepted the request of the defense which had requested that the statements contain up to 9,000 words, as they argued that this was necessary due to the complexity of the case, which requires more space for presenting claims.
In the justification of the decision, the court emphasized that the verdict of the first instance, published on September 16, contains 2089 pages and is the longest ever issued by the Specialized Chambers. “The court also took into account the complexity of the case and the need for the parties to be able to meaningfully present their claims in the appeal,” the court announcement said.
However, the judges estimated that the requirement of 9,000 words in the statement was excessive, as according to them, the quality and effectiveness of an appeal does not depend on the length, but on the clarity and argumentation of the defense claims.
The defense teams have until November 27 to submit appeals to the Appeal. Meanwhile, the working groups set up by the institutions of Kosovo are drafting the state strategy for the protection of former president Hashim Thaçi, former parliamentarians Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veseli and former deputy Rexhep Selimi, who on September 16 were sentenced by the Special Court to a total of 81 years in prison after being found guilty of war crimes.
