Paul Williams: Local commanders had significant influence over Thaçi

2025-09-17 17:03:16, Kosova & Bota CNA

Paul Williams, who was legal advisor to the Kosovo delegation during the Rambouillet negotiations in 1999, began his testimony for the defense of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi on Wednesday before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, saying that local commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army had influence over Thaçi.

Thaçi is being tried at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, along with three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, for war crimes and crimes against humanity - charges they have vehemently denied.

Williams, former pro bono legal advisor to the Kosovar delegation at the Rambouillet talks during February-March 1999, is the second witness for Hashim Thaçi's defense, after former senior American diplomat James Rubin.

According to Williams’ initial written statement, which was read at the beginning, he is testifying about the Kosovar delegation’s decision-making process, its objectives, and discussions on the demilitarization/transformation of the KLA; his observations led him to conclude that “Hashim Thaçi did not have the authority to sign the agreement without the approval of the regional commanders.”

Speaking about the structure of the KLA, Williams described it as ad hoc and decentralized, with great influence of local commanders and the “ideological weight” of political activist and human rights activist Adem Demaçi.

He testified that Thaçi often received frequent phone calls from abroad and was significantly influenced by local commanders and the diaspora, including contacts in the village of Rambuje outside the compound.

"He would answer their calls, they would talk for a period of time, and there would be reactions from him in the process, from which I concluded that he was responsive and submissive," Williams said during answers to questions from Thaçi's defense.

Williams said that according to what he was told, Thaçi also traveled to Slovenia to meet with Adem Demaçi, to secure his support, but he did not report threatening behavior at the meetings he was present at.

“While the Kosovo delegation in Rambouillet was making slow progress towards an agreement, there were external pressures, as we discussed earlier, from local commanders. But there was also ideological and, I would say, cultural pressure from Adem Demaçi, which was creating obstacles to the progress of the negotiations and perhaps, if not certainly, undermining the movement towards an agreement. So that had to be taken into account and addressed,” he said.

He added that, for Demaçi, the main issue was Kosovo's "independence".

Meanwhile, James Rubin, during his three-day testimony, said that Hashim Thaçi had a primarily political role and did not have the authority to make military decisions within the KLA.

According to him, he had to get the approval of his commanders for every important military decision.

The trial of four former KLA superiors began in 2023.

Thaçi was the political leader of the KLA before and during the 1998-99 war, Veseli was the head of the KLA's intelligence service, Krasniqi was the spokesman, and Selimi was among the general staff.

The indictment against them includes charges of illegal detention, torture, murder, crimes against humanity, enforced disappearance and persecution of hundreds of civilians and people who did not want to take part in the fighting.

Several other witnesses, in addition to Rubin and Williams, are expected to testify in defense of the former KLA superiors.

The defendants' defense told Radio Free Europe last week that the list of those who will testify on their side is confidential.

In the media, however, several names circulated - among them: Wesley Clark, William Walker, Bernard Kouchner and others.

The same were also mentioned in a list that the defense revealed in 2022.

The Special Court expects the trial against former KLA leaders to be concluded by the end of December./ REL