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Thaçi pleads not guilty to the charges of obstruction of justice

2025-01-07 16:30:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Thaçi pleads not guilty to the charges of obstruction of justice

The former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi

The former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, has pleaded not guilty to all counts of the second indictment against him, for obstruction of justice in the Specialized Chambers of Kosovo in The Hague, the court announced on Tuesday.

The Special Court said that Thaçi pleaded guilty in writing on January 6, after he had refused to testify before the pre-trial judge in December.

"He pleaded not guilty to all counts of the indictment," the announcement states.

The new indictment against Thaçi and four other persons, the former Minister of Justice, Hajredin Kuçi, the former head of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, Bashkim Smakaj, the former mayor of Malisheva, Isni Kilaj, and Fadil Fazliu - was confirmed on the 29 November, while it was made public on December 7.

Thaçi - who is being tried by this court in a separate case against former KLA leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity - is accused of coordinating "three separate groups" together with Smakaj, Kilaj, Kuçi and Fazli to influence the testimony of prosecution witnesses in the case against him and others for war crimes.

"At least between April 12, 2023 and November 2, 2023, during non-privileged visits to the detention facility, Mr. Thaçi gave Mr. Smakaj, Mr. Kilaj, Mr. Fazliu and Mr. Kuçi confidential information about ZPS witnesses, instructions to influence the testimony of ZPS witnesses and details of how they were to do this," the indictment states. .

In the new indictment, Thaçi is charged with three charges of attempting to obstruct official persons in the performance of official duties, by participating in the joint action of a group; four charges of breaching the confidentiality of proceedings, and four charges of disobeying the court.

Prosecutor Joshua Hafetz has said the prosecution intends to call at least three witnesses to testify against Thaci and four other suspects in the obstruction of justice trial.

While Thaci Kuçi, Kilaj and Fazliu have pleaded not guilty, Smakaj has not yet pleaded guilty.

The Special Court is an institution that operates according to the laws of Kosovo, but its seat is in The Hague, Netherlands.

Thaçi has repeated, at least twice in the last weeks, the necessity of respecting the Constitution and the laws of Kosovo by the Special, as he has mentioned that the two indictments against him were filed just a few months before the elections in Kosovo.

"I am not part of the political race, nor do I have any political ambitions, neither for president, nor for prime minister, nor for deputy, nor any other ambition for any public position. I emphasize that I am not an obstacle and I do not present a danger to anyone, in the political sense, nor to any government project", said Thaçi in court.

The Specialized Chambers of Kosovo have so far announced two verdicts for obstruction in the administration of justice.

Two former figures of the KLA Veterans Organization, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, have been convicted for obstructing justice until now.

Meanwhile, they have pronounced two judgments for war crimes.

The former superior of the KLA, Salih Mustafa, has been sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment for war crimes, while the former member of the KLA, Pjetër Shala, has been sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for arbitrary detention, torture and murder.

The Special Court was established in 2015 by the Assembly of Kosovo and is part of the judicial system of Kosovo, but operates with international personnel and is headquartered in The Hague.

The Specialized Chambers and the Specialized Prosecutor's Office - also known as the Special Court - investigate alleged crimes by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, committed against ethnic minorities and political rivals from January 1998 to December 2000. /REL