There is still no result, at least not public, regarding the clarification of the case of document leakage and sending them to the offices of the KLA War Veterans Association. For the publication of the documents, which the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office said are confidential, the two former leaders of WVA-KLA, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, were sentenced to imprisonment by the Special Court. The president of this court, Ekaterina Trendafilova, does not speak about the investigation regarding this case, who, when asked about it, only refers to the public statements of the Specialist Prosecutor, that he is conducting an investigation on this but still without any results. Trendafilova says that the Specialist Chambers and the SPO are two bodies independent from each other, and she does not agree with the declarations in Kosovo that this court is a mono-ethnic court.
The President of the Special Court has been in Kosovo this week and on Tuesday she gave an interview for KosovaPress, in Prishtina, one day before the announced meeting with the civil society in Gjilan, which she canceled on Tuesday evening, due to a protest announced against her visit.
Trendafilova says that the Special Court deals with individual criminal responsibility for crimes allegedly committed, and its mandate is not related to organizations, to groups, or ethnicities
“First of all, we are not a mono-ethnic court, we are a court, we have a mandate that has been decided upon, in the international agreement, exchange of letters from 2014. Thereafter, by the Constitutional amendment, article 162 was added to the Kosovo Constitution, explicitly dealing with the setting up of the Specialist Chambers, and also by the law on Specialist Chambers, and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, and we are dealing with crimes committed in the period, January 1998, December 2000. Here it is second point, the role of the prosecutor, the Specialist Prosecutor to decide what investigations is going to undertake, whom is he going to bring to account, and this is something that is constantly repeated in the media. And I don’t see why there is this persistence in promoting the view that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, we’re dealing with individual criminal responsibility for crimes, allegedly committed, and our mandate is not related to organizations, to groups, to ethnicities. Last point, we have victims who have applied so far, in the proceedings, in the four cases before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, and they’re absolutely different ethnicities. There are Albanians for example, in the case of the Specialist Prosecutor against Mr. Mustafa, the eight victims are Kosovo Albanians. Then we have also victims in the case against Mr. Shala, we have in the case against the former president, Mr. Thaçi, Krasniqi, Selimi, and Veseli. So that is my answer. We’re not a mono-ethnic court at all”, said the president of the Special Court.
The Special Court has sentenced to imprisonment the two former leaders of the KLA War Veterans Association, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj.
They are accused of working against the administration of justice by publishing confidential documents and names of witnesses.
However, the origin of the documents and who sent them to the WVA-KLA offices has not yet been clarified.
When asked about this, the president of the court refers only to the public statements of the Specialist Prosecutor.
“I remember what the prosecutor said in a public interview before ‘Koha Ditore’, that he is conducting an intensive investigation into the person who twice in daylight threw all these documents, to the premises of the veterans’ organization. And that he also has been very much considering how this could happen, but there is nothing for the moment as an outcome of his investigations. But I can only refer to what is a public knowledge”, said Trendafilova.
Although six years have passed since the foundation of this court and so far, only one judgment has been pronounced, Trendafilova considers the work of the Special Court to be successful.
“So, in two years, I’m quite positive about the intensive work that has been going on by the judges, by very devoted legal team. During these two years, we have one judgment, and this judgment has been issued in less than three months, just in two months, and the whole of the case before the trial panel, trial panel II took less than 8 months, seven months and several days. So, now this case is before the appeals panel that I have assigned, and it is my expectation, that we might have a final appeal by the end of the year. Then the other case, against Mr. Mustafa, is also coming to an end by a judgment that we expect from the trial panel. Then tomorrow the case against Mr. Shala is going to be transmitted to the same trial panel one, that is dealing with the case of Mr. Mustafa”, she said.
Last week, the first trial, the one against Salih Mustafa under allegations of war crimes, ended.
Trendafilova expects the verdict in this case to be announced by the end of this year, or early next year.
The Special Court was created with the first major accusations under allegations of trafficking in human organs, while in the indictments the suspicions of these crimes were not mentioned anywhere.
When asked about this, the president of the Special Court says that they are not limited to what is reflected in the report approved by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
“In this report which was the report, that was enacted on the 7th of January 2011, by the Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, is not a legal instrument, it’s not a legal tool, it’s part of our legal framework. And as Article 1 of the law, the law on Specialist Chambers, Special Prosecutor’s office states, and as it was confirmed by the Appeals judgment, thereafter confirmed by the Specialist Chamber of the Constitutional Court, we operate only with regard to crimes that are related to this report. But this is not a report that is confining the activities of the Specialist Chamber, just what has been reflected. This report was followed by the establishment of the special investigative task force that conducted its own investigation and thereafter, the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. So, the wording was especially chosen in the law, stating that crimes in relation, that were committed within the period 1998- 2000, that are related to this report, but we are not confined only to what has been reflected in the report”, said Trendafilova.
Regarding the case against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, the president of the Special Court says that it is very voluminous.
However, her expectations are that the trial will begin at the end of this year.
“The expectation, following the hearings, following the discussions in the courtroom, also the decisions that are taken, that are public, and the very, persistent approach to very strict timelines set by the pretrial judge, the expectation is that by the end of this year, latest, very early next year, this case will go to trial. But this case is a very, big case, a very voluminous case, not only because of the number of accused persons, but also because during the last hearing, I was impressed by the number of pages that the defense communicated to everyone, of course, it was a public hearing. I also cannot follow private hearings, but the number of pages of evidence amounts to one million. The prosecutor is for the moment considering to bring to the courtroom around 380 witnesses, and the defense, since the disclosure of evidence that the prosecution intends to use at the trial, has been disclosed to the defense, and the defense are conducting their own investigation. So, this is really, a very big case. And the reasonable time standard is very important, but at the same time, it is not uncommon that such big cases, could take some more time. But my hope is, based on the professional assessment that I have developed throughout the years, that we are going to have very soon trial proceedings in these cases”, said the president of the Special Court.
During the conferences on the progress of the case, the lawyers of the former KLA leaders have criticized the SPO that it is not disclosing exculpatory evidence.
When asked about this, the president of the court says that the prosecution must provide the defense with exculpatory evidence as soon as possible.
“Due to my other duties of course, I could not follow every single status conference. Of course, when I can afford this, I just watch the hearings in these and in all the other cases and of course the issue that you are referring to the exculpatory evidence, has been raised and here I would like to make the point about, how we the judges reflected on exculpatory evidence in the rule of procedure evidence. If we compare, for example, the legal framework on this matter, with the ICC-International Criminal Court, at the ICC, the provision about exculpatory evidence is much more lenient about the prosecutor. The prosecutor should disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense as soon as practicable. And when we were drafting the rules of procedure and evidence, and having my experience at the ICC, where the prosecutor could take a lot of advantage of this, and extend a lot, the wording, as soon as practicable. I suggested to my colleagues and they without anyone hesitating about the wording that I suggested, and it was adopted by the judges, the wording of our rule is exculpatory evidence, must be disclosed immediately, as soon as it is in the custody control on knowledge of the prosecutor. And the pretrial judge also, has issued decisions making very, very strong points that the exculpatory evidence, and he set deadlines, when should be disclosed”, she said.
Trendafilova considers the judges of the Specialist Chambers to be high-level professionals.
She says that they cannot be supervised by the Assembly or the Government since there is a special law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.
“The Special Court, is a court of law, and the rule of law in any democratic system, dictates that judges and courts are not going to be put under the authority, the influence, oversight, be it of the executive, be it of the parliament. With regard to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which is as I said, is a court of law, we are performing our duties as provided in the international agreement, the exchange of letters, article 162 of the Constitution, and the law on Specialist Chambers, Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. All of these legal documents upon which we perform our duties enacted by the parliament of Kosovo. In particular, in article 162, paragraph 10, and paragraph 12, these are important parts of the Constitution of Kosovo with regard to Specialist Chambers it is highlighted that the appointment of Judges, the oversight of Judges is regulated by a special law, and this is the law on Specialist Chambers, Specialist Prosecutor’s Office”, she said.
Meanwhile, in Kosovo, the need to establish an independent mechanism that oversees the work of this court has been mentioned.
High state officials, including the Speaker of the Assembly, Glauk Konjufca and the Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, have stated that this court is closed and does not answer to anyone.
The Special Court was established by the Assembly of Kosovo but operates in The Hague, Netherlands, with international judges and prosecutors.
The idea for its establishment came after the report of Senator Dick Marty, approved in the Council of Europe, which claimed that human organ trafficking had been committed, but then these suspicions were not included in the indictments brought against the former KLA leaders. A month ago, Albania, through a resolution approved in its Assembly, officially asked the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to review the same resolution, 1782 (2011), and to declare unfounded the accusations of illegal trafficking of human organs during the liberation war of Kosovo.
