During her opening statement, Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West said that Hashim Thaci systematically continued to interfere with witnesses and violated all court orders aimed at protecting confidential information.
West, in the courtroom in The Hague, said that it was the efforts of Hashim Thaci and the other defendants to undermine the work of the court.
“Hashim Thaci is accused of systematically continuing to interfere with these witness testimonies and violating all court orders aimed at protecting confidential information. The co-defendants participated illegally in these crimes,” she said.
Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West said that the recordings will show the loyalty the other defendants had toward Thaci and their sole purpose of obstructing justice.
West presented the illegal actions of Hashim Thaci, Bashkim Smakaj, Isni Kilaj, Fadil Fazliu, and Hajredin Kuci.
“The recordings will show the influence of Hashim Thaci over the co-defendants and their willingness to take part in that plan. In the case of Fadil Fazliu, he gave suggestions on what the witnesses should say and even used his son to help achieve this goal. Isni Kilaj obtained from Thaci, and from the detention center, copies of confidential pre-trial statements to interfere with their testimony; these documents were seized from Kilaj’s home. Smakaj joined Thaci’s efforts to discredit certain witnesses and received a printed 10-page document showing Thaci’s criminal responsibility on page 6, in line with the instructions given by Thaci; this document was seized from his car. Kuci continuously gave suggestions on what targeted witnesses should say, aiming to benefit Thaci,” she said.
Chief Prosecutor West said the case involves audio recordings of conversations between Thaci and the other defendants and documents they exchanged.
“This case concerns audio recordings, documents seized from the defendants’ offices, conversations among themselves, and documents they exchanged. An important part of this judicial case is also determining the intent behind their words. This case does not involve the legitimate defense of Hashim Thaci in the war crimes trial. Hashim Thaci has a large defense team in that trial and had uncontrolled access to members of his team through meetings. None of these meetings were recorded; no one except Thaci and his defense knows what was said there,” she said.
In today’s session, Hashim Thaci, Bashkim Smakaj, Isni Kilaj, Fadil Fazliu, and Hajredin Kuci again pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing justice.
