He described it as an unexpected sentence, which has shocked public opinion, emphasizing that the four accused were part of the KLA and fought against the Serbian genocide, crimes that are documented and recognized by the whole world.
“After that decision, I thought that after a free Europe, the freedom fighters who fought against the Serbian genocide cannot be punished, and this was very surprising for me and for all Albanians wherever they are. It was an unexpected sentence and a great disappointment of the entire population in Kosovo, because four of them were members of the KLA and fought against the Serbian genocide, where the whole world knows that the Serbian violence apparatus killed children, women, killed entire families and committed massacres.Kryeziu said.
According to Kryeziu, the sentences given exceeded the legal framework of the time, as the suspected criminal offenses had to be judged according to the Yugoslav legislation, where the maximum stipulated was 15 years in prison.
He described the decisions as “draconian”, harsh and unprecedented in European history, adding that lawyers should work on appeals to challenge them and bring new evidence.
“So they have exceeded these and have taken harsh measures against the freedom fighters in the first instance and it is possible that at the level of Appeal, the lawyers should work in this direction so that this ‘dragonic’ punishment is eliminated because it is an unprecedented punishment in European history,” he said.
The legal expert added that the four accused, through their lawyers, should appeal the sentence and bring new evidence and contradictory facts.
“I consider that the judges at the Hague Court have behaved as enemies towards the defendants. They have been in unison together with the prosecution. I consider that the judge should make an impartial decision, not based on the requests given by the prosecution, otherwise this cannot be called a fair trial,” Kryeziu said.
He specified that in order to achieve these goals, lawyers should work in three directions, firstly, to be released in full, secondly, to reduce the sentence, or thirdly, the Court of Appeals to repeat the procedure.
Kryeziu recalled previous cases where KLA commanders were sentenced in the first instance to 18 years, but were later released, as well as cases of Croatian soldiers who were sentenced to 22 years and then released on appeal.
He also criticized the formula “In the name of the people of Kosovo” used in the decision, saying that the people of Kosovo would not have condemned their liberators and that this expression has no logic in this context.
For Kryeziu, the punishments are political and hostile, but they will not have an impact on the citizenship of Kosovo, as they have an individual character.
“Another element that he described as meaningless was the formula “In the name of the people of Kosovo”. “The people of Kosovo would not have punished the liberators, but this is in principle a formal rule. In this context, it makes no sense and has no logic. It would have been better to say ‘in the name of Europe’ or ‘in the name of the Court’, and not of the people of KosovoKryeziu emphasized.
In the end, he said that these are “draconian” punishments, not real, but political and hostile.
“This should be corrected in the future in the appeal, and I think that in the appeal they will be completely freed,” said the constitutionalist.
According to him, if the accused had been convicted for criminal offenses against humanity, this would have an effect on Kosovo, but the sentences given have more of an individual character and will not cause a problem for Kosovo’s citizenship and state building.
