Prosecutors in The Hague seek six years in prison for former Kosovo president Thaçi
In The Hague, the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office asked the court to sentence former Kosovo president Hashim Thaçi to six years in prison in a case concerning obstruction of justice. Prosecutors also request that this sentence be served consecutively to any punishment Thaçi may receive in a separate case involving war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Prosecution’s position
As Balkan Insight reports, four more defendants are being tried alongside Thaçi in the witness interference case. During closing arguments, prosecutor Joshua Hafetz requested a nine-month prison sentence for Hajrëdin Kuçi and three years each for Fadil Fazliu, Isni Kilaj, and Bashkim Smakaj.
According to the prosecution, Thaçi instructed the other defendants to give certain witnesses in his war crimes case directions on what to say in court. Thaçi and all four of his co-defendants deny wrongdoing.
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Visit recordings
Hafetz said that the evidence in the case includes about 28 hours of recordings made during nine visits to Thaçi at the detention facility in The Hague over four months. According to the prosecution, Thaçi whispered specific instructions to Kuçi, Fazliu, Kilaj, and Smakaj in order to influence the content of testimony and weaken the prosecution’s case in the war crimes trial.
Prosecutor Kimberly West said that these instructions allegedly concerned both changing testimony and denying Thaçi’s presence at locations where, according to the prosecution, crimes were committed. The prosecution also claims that some of the documents found at Kilaj’s residence in November 2023 were printed on the only printer available to Thaçi at the detention facility.
The verdict in the case of Thaçi and three other former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army — Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi — is due to be announced on September 16. All four have pleaded not guilty.
