First defense witnesses for Thaçi: Can the “American cavalry” change the course of the trial in The Hague?

Big names—people who “ruled the weather” in the Balkans in the 1990s. And now they are all on Hashim Thaçi’s side. Along with three other former KLA leaders, he faces serious charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity before and after the 1999 war. While lawyers are cautious in assessing the statements of the first witnesses for his defense, analysts have no doubts: the State Department has “sent in the cavalry,” because Thaçi is needed in Kosovo.

Written by: Djordje Barovic

At the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, seated in The Hague, proceedings are expected to continue on Monday with the presentation of the fourth defense witness in this key case before the court.

Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi face ten counts in the indictment: persecution on political and ethnic grounds, imprisonment, unlawful arrest and detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, enforced disappearance, torture, and murder.

After two years, on April 15 the prosecution completed the presentation of its evidence, including statements from 127 witnesses.

Subsequently, in July, the victims’ representative presented evidence on behalf of 155 victims.

The second act of this process—the presentation of the defense case—began on September 15 and, according to the defense, will last much shorter, until November 14.

“We will have the opportunity to show the truth about what really happened in Kosovo in 1999,” said Thaçi’s counsel Pierre-Richard Prosper.

The Office of the Specialist Prosecutor, led by prosecutor Kimberly West, takes a different view.

In a motion filed on September 22, 2025, the prosecution requested an extension of Thaçi’s detention, stating there are well-founded suspicions that he committed criminal offenses within the jurisdiction of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

The reasoning states that Thaçi is aware of the serious charges confirmed against him and knows that, if convicted, he could be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. In addition, the prosecution cites obstruction-of-justice allegations as grounds for a flight risk.

Of the 12 witnesses announced by the defense, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin, legal adviser to the Kosovo delegation during the Rambouillet talks Paul Williams, and British diplomat John Duncan have testified so far.

Rubin’s Testimony

The testimony of James Rubin, former aide to Madeleine Albright, remains in the spotlight.

Former Kosovo ambassador to Germany Beqë Cufaj called Rubin’s testimony “historic,” and there have been many more claims that it has turned the course of Thaçi’s trial.

Among those making such claims is DUI leader Ali Ahmeti.

He is convinced that, regardless of the argument that the Special Court was created so that the “East” could take on the U.S., EU, and NATO, Rubin’s testimony—as well as that of other witnesses—will “bring out the truth” and that “justice will prevail.”

“This is a very organized battle of the East against the West, against the U.S., NATO, the EU—claiming they supported an army that committed crimes, that these were unorganized people. But precisely the testimony of the deputy secretary of state, the testimony of the Rambouillet adviser, and other testimonies that will follow will bring out the truth that no one can dispute,” Ahmeti argues.

He explains that the proceedings against Thaçi and three former KLA leaders “began badly” with claims of organ trafficking intended to compromise the KLA.

“When it became clear that the ‘yellow book’ was a fairy tale about a king, intended only to compromise the KLA, the charge was then changed to a senseless accusation of a joint criminal enterprise. I am very confident that justice will prevail. Justice will come to light,” Ahmeti says.

Asked how much the Kosovo authorities support the accused in The Hague, the DUI leader stresses that they are obliged to do so.

“Kosovo has a responsibility and, in the end, those are people who contributed to Kosovo’s independence. They are not ordinary people, but people who bore responsibility all the way to liberation and to Kosovo’s independence,” Ahmeti said.

Former Kosovo deputy prime minister Edita Tahiri is also convinced that Rubin’s testimony, as well as that of other defense witnesses, will help the Special Court reach a “fair and impartial decision” regarding the former KLA leaders.

“I believe Rubin’s testimony will help a great deal, especially the defenders of the KLA leaders, because he truly spoke with all the facts he had, and he particularly emphasized that Hashim Thaçi was the political leader of the KLA. We knew that when we met and cooperated in Rambouillet, but when an American diplomat says it, it was very important… The arrival of other renowned diplomats is very important at a time when the Special Court is deciding on the outcome, and all these efforts and testimonies are so that the Special Court reaches a fair decision and is not biased,” Tahiri emphasizes.

“The Cavalry” and the Disobedient

RTS journalist Rade Maroevic thinks in a completely different way.

He says that, judging by the selection of the first witnesses, one gets the impression that the State Department has “sent in the cavalry to save Thaçi.”

“The State Department sent the ‘cavalry’ to save Thaçi. The two most important figures from that period—Rambouillet and immediately before the start of the bombing—are James Rubin and Paul Williams. It is assumed that at some point William Walker, head of the OSCE Verification Mission, will appear for the defense. So, with three men, they will try—without denying that crimes occurred, no one has done that—to remove the guilt from those accused,” Maroevic told Kosovo Online.

He adds that it is difficult to predict the outcome of the trial, but it seems that the U.S. has been left without its “players” in Kosovo and that Thaçi is needed there because “Albin Kurti does not listen.”

“The essence of the story is that enormous pressure from the international community led to the formation of this court. In the meantime, political circumstances in Kosovo have changed dramatically, and America has been left without its players, as key people are now in detention in The Hague. So, politically, Thaçi is needed by the United States because Albin Kurti does not listen. From that side, the situation is quite tense. From the legal side, it is a completely different matter. The prosecution has presented its evidence, the defense is now presenting its own—when the two clash, we will see what the final outcome will be,” Maroevic points out.

He explains that the defense in this process has “taken a completely different path” from the prosecution.

“Unlike the prosecution, which called 100-plus witnesses and brought documentation regarding more than 100 victims and displaced persons, the defense has taken a completely different road. As in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, they are trying to ‘paint’ the political scene in Kosovo at the time when those crimes were occurring,” Maroevic says.

He emphasizes that the defense thesis is that neither Hashim Thaçi nor the other three accused in this process commanded the KLA.

“James Rubin, who was the key State Department representative for the KLA at that time, and Paul Williams, adviser to the Albanian delegation at Rambouillet, tried to convince the trial chamber that, regardless of titles and public appearances, Thaçi and the three co-accused did not have real command over the units in the field,” Maroevic notes.

He recalls that during the proceedings the prosecution presented a series of pieces of evidence, including KLA “communiqués” calling for action against Albanians who worked for the Serbian police or cooperated with the authorities at the time…

“They tried to deny the authenticity of those documents and not only that, but also their significance, in order to establish a system in which they were political representatives at another level, while the commanders of the operational zones made decisions independently,” Maroevic explains.

Who Will Believe the Verdict?

Lawyer Tom Gashi is far more cautious in his assessments.

He does not dispute that Rubin’s testimony has been “the strongest” so far, but says it will still depend on the judges whether it will change the “course of the trial” against Hashim Thaçi and three co-defendants before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers seated in The Hague.

Gashi warns that the key problem of this process is that, in the end, either Serbs or Albanians will not believe the verdict.

“If the verdicts are acquittals, most Serbs will not believe the Specialist Court. If the opposite happens and they are found guilty—Albanians, 99 percent of them, will not believe this court. I think this is a waste of time and money on something that will not contribute anything to the future of the independent state of Kosovo,” Gashi stresses for Kosovo Online.

Commenting on the phase of presenting defense evidence in the proceedings against Thaçi and three other former KLA leaders, the lawyer notes that their attorneys have proposed “VIP witnesses.”

“Their lawyers proposed several witnesses who are VIPs, who held such political positions during the war in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. These are witnesses who present to the court the situation that existed in Kosovo during the war,” Gashi says.

He explains that all the defense witnesses so far have presented the situation “as they saw it.”

“I think the strongest statement was that of James Rubin, who presented the situation both during the war and within the KLA Supreme Headquarters in Kosovo, and in Rambouillet. He presented more of the political situation and what he directly saw on the ground. He spoke more about Hashim Thaçi and the others, and about the KLA General Staff that was in Kosovo,” the lawyer notes.

Commenting on claims that Rubin’s testimony “turned the course of the trial,” Gashi says caution is needed.

“These are the kinds of statements we hear every day, but as a lawyer I must say that we have to wait and see how the Special Court will assess those statements. If they consider them credible, I think they will help the defense of Thaçi and the others, but I cannot say anything until I see how the court will view them,” the lawyer says.

If the court has accepted those statements, he interprets, that also means they will help the judges reach a fair verdict.

He also states that most of the remaining defense witnesses will give their statements in the courtroom of the Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

“They will testify directly in court, but for several of them only their statements will be presented because, unfortunately, they are no longer alive. It has already been decided that the court will accept those statements, and then we expect the conclusion of this trial, which has already lasted nearly five years,” Gashi notes.

Legal Significance and Minimization

Another lawyer, former military prosecutor Dragan Pasic, claims that the defense witnesses’ statements so far “have no legal significance” because they have not answered the question of who committed the crimes in Kosovo for which Thaçi and three other former KLA leaders are indicted.

“Their testimony has no legal importance for the criminal proceedings being conducted against Hashim Thaçi and the three co-defendants. They did not answer the question of whether Thaçi or any of his associates committed a crime. They did not speak about crimes, war crimes, or crimes against humanity, but about their impressions and about the relations they had with Thaçi and other Kosovo leaders,” Pasic tells Kosovo Online.

He does not agree with the claim that Rubin’s testimony could “change the course of the trial.”

“I do not agree with that assertion. This is about concrete crimes—the killings of more than 100 people: Albanians, Serbs, Roma, and others—about torture, persecution… One could say that this testimony is a continuation of the policy that prevailed in 1998 and 1999. Clearly, these are impressions about Hashim Thaçi and other leaders, not actual facts. They did not even amount to indirect knowledge, so their testimony is irrelevant,” Pasic emphasizes.

Commenting on the testimonies of Rubin, Williams, and Duncan, the lawyer says that the first defense witness in the proceedings against Thaçi and three other former KLA leaders was former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin.

After him, Paul Williams, legal adviser to the Kosovo delegation during the Rambouillet talks, and British diplomat John Duncan testified.

“It is also striking that they minimize the significance of Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi, shifting responsibility to local commanders—commanders of operational zones—without naming those individuals. It even gives the impression, based on their testimonies, that Hashim Thaçi was part of the so-called ‘soft wing’ of the so-called KLA. At one point, one of these witnesses even said that he (Thaçi) had more of a role as ‘foreign minister’ representing the Republic of Kosovo, rather than that of an operational or supreme military commander,” Pasic believes.

Among the defense witnesses announced is former head of the Albanian Intelligence Service Fatos Klosi.

“The defense called me as a witness in The Hague. I will go, but I was not in Kosovo at that time, because most problems arose after the allied forces entered Kosovo, when the KLA was no longer operational,” Klosi said.

The former military prosecutor is adamant that this witness will not help reveal the truth about the events described in the indictment, also because international legal standards provide for the “privilege against self-incrimination.”

“This means that one cannot expect defense witnesses to incriminate their associates, superiors, or peers. Therefore, I believe his testimony will also be irrelevant and will not provide key answers to the question of the role of Hashim Thaçi and the three co-defendants in the war crimes with which they are charged,” Pasic stresses.