The testimony of the former American soldier in the case of Thaçi and others ends
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8 months ago
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Defense cross-examinations for the witness, Steven Russell, in the trial against the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army have ended. In today's session, the hearing of the witness, who was accompanied by representatives of the American government, continued. After being questioned by the defense of Thaç and Veseli yesterday, in today's session this witness was questioned by the defense of Selim, Krasniqi and by the jury. Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi were present in the courtroom, while Jakup Krasniqi followed the session via video link.
The lawyer of Rexhep Selim, Eric Tully, has insisted on the questions for the ZPS witness regarding the identification cards of the members of the Kosovo Liberation Army and whether they have had contact with the Ministry of Public Order.
Tully: Is it true that KFOR has not been in contact with this ministry, as far as you know, and did not know who had and who did not have such identification cards?
Russell: As I was telling you, our instructions were this: the cards that are not from the IOM or from the joint implementation commission or the United Nations, were to be seized. If they were related to the KLA, whether it was from the ministries or civil functions, we had it as an instruction, we had a directive to seize them, to take them.
Tully: My question was this, you have not been in contact with this ministry to communicate with them and ask them who had such identification cards. You were only tasked with getting these cards?
Russell: Yes, according to the technical agreement we were obliged to receive these identification cards.
Tully: You are answering no, you were not in contact with this ministry?
Russell: From our perspective we had orders. According to the agreement, there were no legitimate institutions because then it was the mandate of the UN to perform this task.
Tully: You're taking it for granted.
Russell: You're asking a very difficult question and you want a simple answer." Russell said.
During his testimony yesterday, Russell was presented with a card, which he said read "Ministry of Public Order - official letter". The former American soldier said that they seized many documents and computers.
"We seized a lot of documents with letterhead, we seized computers, we seized a lot of documentation. But we also found reports that we read later and many official security documents that had a more unified form." he added.
Russell was also asked about the raids they carried out in the dormitories and the protest of the Albanians around the gate.
Tully: The raid you did on the dormitory was not secret, that's for sure.
Russell: Task Force 'Falcon' had full knowledge of what was going on.
Tully: The residents of the area also found out and gathered hundreds of people outside the gate and created a disturbance of order there.
Russell: If you're saying we wanted to do theater there, then that's an incorrect statement. We wanted this raid to be carried out as soon as possible, but it took a long time because pictures had to be taken and we had to show you these pictures of one of the alleged victims. So we thought we would have finished the raid within two hours, we didn't intend to stay, we didn't intend to disrupt the public order in Gjilan that day. We wanted to enter the dormitory and leave." said the ZPS witness.
Krasniqi's lawyer, Aiden Ellis, also asked about the raid by KFOR on the dormitory and whether he saw documents signed by Ahmeti Isufi. The witness Steven Russell said that he was present in this raid and saw the document, which was given to him by Florim Kllokoqi.
The witness Steven Russell was asked by the judge, Ginel Metro, if the KLA soldiers had the opportunity to report on the events that happened before KFOR was on the ground.
In the first six months, as he added, the KFOR mission tried to prevent property from being burned and people from being killed.
The trial of the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army began on April 3, 2023. The former leaders of the KLA are being tried for alleged war crimes and have been held in the detention center in The Hague since November 2020.
