Hague: Decision to restrict communications and visits to Thaci, Veseli and Selimi

Photo: Tanjug/AP

The Trial Panel of the Specialized Chambers in The Hague has ordered certain temporary restrictions on communications and visits to former leaders of the so-called KLA Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi, it has been announced on the website of the Hague-based Specialized Chambers and the Specialized Prosecutor's Office of so-called Kosovo.

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According to a statement, the Trial Panel made a decision on temporary measures regarding communication and visits to the three detainees in the case of Specialized Prosecutor against Hashim Thaci and others, at the request of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office to change the conditions of detention.

The panel concluded that it is justified to introduce these restrictions considering the danger of confidential information being illegally disclosed from the detention facility.

Those restrictions are temporary, and will be in force until the panel makes a full decision on the merits of the prosecution's request. The Specialized Prosecutor's Office previously requested to suspend visits and all communication in detention in The Hague to Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi, except with their legal team.

It was requested that the visits and all communications be suspended because the detainees allegedly violated court orders by revealing the identity of protected witnesses, as well as by transmitting the content of a confidential testimony to persons visiting them at the Detention Center.

The Prosecutor's Office stated that its investigations revealed further attempts by the accused to obstruct the proceedings, as they directed visitors to talk to potential witnesses and tell them what to say. The prosecution in The Hague points out that it has for that reason requested that all communications with Thaci, Veseli and Selimi be suspended, including family visits and communication through Zoom, phone calls and written communications.

The Specialized Prosecution also requested that the three accused be separated from the other detainees who are currently in the Detention Center.

Thaci, Veseli, Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 42 illegal detention locations run by the so-called KLA in Kosovo and Albania. The victims were at least 407 persons the KLA held captive, of whom at least 98 were killed.

The three are accused of unjustly depriving people of their freedom, torturing and killing them, and for these crimes they face life imprisonment.

The indictment states that the crimes they are charged with were committed in the period from March 1998 to September 1999 in several places in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as in northern Albania. According to the indictment, those acts were committed by members of the so-called KLA against hundreds of civilians and persons who were not active participants in the hostilities.

These former leaders of the so-called KLA have been detained in The Hague since November 2020.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)