What is contained in the indictment against Thaci and others (II): Four KLA chiefs personally participated in torture

The over 300-page indictment of the Special Court for KLA Crimes accuses former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other KLA commanders and leaders, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including illegal detention, torture, murders and disappearances from March 1998 to September 1999.

The 10 counts of the indictment detail the crimes committed in 43 illegal KLA detention centers in Kosovo and Albania against approximately 407 detainees, of whom at least 102 were killed. In the amended indictment, in early March, the prosecutors announced the identity of 75 victims, 51 of whom were of Serbian nationality, 23 Albanians and one Rom died in KLA custody. The identity of another 27 victims will be disclosed during the trial.

The trial in The Hague began yesterday, with the presentation of the prosecution's opening statements, which accuse Thaci and three other former KLA leaders of supporting and aiding crimes as members of the Joint criminal enterprise (JCE), and even personally participating in some of them. Thaci, Krasniqi, Veseli, and Selimi declared their innocence.

Kosovo Online publishes the most important parts of the indictment in several installments.

Electric shocks, wires, and baseball bats

A significant part of the indictment against KLA commanders refers to crimes committed in illegal detentions in Kosovo and Albania. Already yesterday, on the first day of the trial, the words of the prosecutor James Pach could be heard that the victims who had survived torture in KLA prisons still had consequences, psychological and physical trauma, and that the conditions of detention in certain locations had been so horrible that people who had been detained there "thought that death was a better option for them".

The Prosecution claims that several criminal acts of torture, as a crime against humanity, were committed in illegal KLA prisons and that the accused KLA leaders personally participated in some of these acts.

"Thaci, Veseli, Krasniqi, and Selimi personally participated in the treatment of opponents on the ground by participating in intimidation, questioning, harassing, and imprisoning opponents. In June 1998, Thaci and Veseli personally took two opponents in the direction of the Main Headquarters in Drenovac and arrested them, interrogated and in one case severely beaten them. Selimi was also present, and these men were never seen or heard from again. Also in June 1998, after KLA members stopped a man in the nearby village of Cerovik, Selimi killed the man and took him in the direction of Likovac, where he was released. On the way, Selimi questioned the frightened man about his family, which also included certain opponents who had previously been detained in Likovac," the indictment states.

Thaci, among other things, as claimed in the indictment, had participated in criminal activities starting in Qirez and Sedlare, Selimi in Likovac and Klecka, and Veseli in Kukes.

The indictment states that certain KLA members caused severe pain and suffering to persons who were arrested and imprisoned in illegal KLA prisons. The prisoners were deprived of food and water, sanitary facilities, and health care, as well as for long periods of time, they were kept tied up and lived in inhumane conditions.

This happened, among other things, in Likovac, Lkapushnik, Jablanica, Drenovac, Malisheva, Prizren, Gjilan, Klecka...

"Some prisoners were forced to do manual labor. The accompanying material also indicates that members of the KLA regularly, that is, brutally beat arrested and imprisoned persons, among other things, with sticks, rifles, baseball bats, and other objects. They gave the prisoners electric shocks, and pain or they cut, burned their skin, or urinated on them. Some prisoners were rubbed with salt in their wounds, and to others, they pulled out fingers, nails or teeth, with pliers" the indictment states.

It is added that the arrested and imprisoned persons could hear and see the abuse of others, some of whom had been their relatives. Some prisoners had been forced to beat each other. According to the prosecutors, some had been falsely executed or forced to watch other prisoners being allegedly killed. Arrested and imprisoned persons had been regularly threatened with death.

"Severe pain and suffering were inflicted on the arrested and imprisoned persons, which included severe bruises, bleeding, loss of consciousness, broken bones and broken teeth, inability to eat or drink independently, to stand and walk. The accompanying material indicates deliberate physical abuse of arrested and imprisoned persons, the extremely brutal nature of various forms of physical abuse, the type of objects used for abuse, death threats, infliction of serious injuries, as well as the escalation of abuse of prisoners despite their worsening condition. This shows that at least some of the members of the KLA who participated in the aforementioned actions and omissions had the intention to inflict severe pain and suffering on those persons," the indictment reads.

In addition, the indictment further states, "the evidence indicates that pain and suffering were inflicted in order to achieve one or more of the following goals: obtaining information or confession; punishing, intimidating or coercing the abused person or a third person; discrimination against the abused person or someone of a third party, including on national, religious or political grounds".

"The abused persons were punished for the following reasons: they or their relatives allegedly collaborated with the Serbian authorities or had Serb friends or connections with the Serbs, as well as because they or their relatives allegedly supported or were sympathizers of the LDK, did not join or they did not support the KLA; their current or former employment was considered conflicting interests; they or their relatives allegedly committed criminal acts and other activities directed against the KLA. According to some of the abused persons, they used intimidation and coercion in order to force them to provide weapons, beat other prisoners, or perform some other actions," the indictment states.

Beating people in Qirez and Klecka

The amended indictment of the Prosecutor's Office describes in detail the accidental case of arrest, detention, and intimidation of 13 members of the parliamentary delegation who were on a humanitarian visit to Qirez. As stated, “Around September 20, 1998, Hashim Thaci and Rexhep Selimi, along with other members of the JCE, including Sabit Geci, participated in this action”.

"Hashim Thaci and Rexhep Selimi were also present at the place of arrest in Qirez and Banjica, where the detainees were later transferred, beaten, and interrogated. As part of this event, after members of the delegation were severely beaten and suffered visible injuries, Thaci and Geci interrogated them, including asking them to disown Ibrahim Rugova and the LDK and resign from their parliamentary positions. Before being released, Selimi returned their identity cards. At one point during detention, Geci stated in the presence of Thaci that he would kill a member of the delegation. Later, just before the members of the delegation were released, Thaci addressed a member of the delegation with the words 'Even if you are free now, we could kill you in Pristina,'" the indictment states.

Approximately between January and May 1999, Selimi, Kadri Veseli, and Jakup Krasniqi were involved in various aspects of the transfer, detention, and release of detainees who were held at a place of detention near Klecka, according to the indictment.

"In April 1999, a masked KLA soldier whom other soldiers call 'Dhjeteshi' severely beat a detainee in Klecka. The detainee later realized that Selimi was 'Dhjeteshi'. In late May or early June 1999, Veseli took part in the interrogation of a detainee in Kukes in Albania, together with Geci and Fatmir Limaj," the indictment reads.

The document also states that between November 1998 and June 1999, "certain members of the KLA detained at least 20 people in different periods and without legal process, in the house and surrounding buildings near Klecka". The detainees were bound, blindfolded, and kept under armed guard. Between January and May 1999, the indictment states, several members of KLA, including Veseli, Selimi, Krasniqim and Limaj were involved in various aspects of the transfer, detention, and release of detainees held at the detention center near Klecka. Around January 1999, the indictment states, certain members of the KLA detained at least one person without proper legal procedure in Retimlje, near Orahovac, before they transferred him to Klecka.

Thaci and Limaj interrogated journalists in Sedlare

"After the arrest of two Serbian journalists around October 18, 1998, Thaci, together with Limaj, interrogated them in Sedlare. The case attracted the attention of international representatives and on this occasion, specific instructions were given to treat the two detainees well. On the fifth or on sixth day of detention, a KLA soldier shouted at one of the journalists and put an automatic weapon in his mouth and eye. The journalists were then transferred and mistreated at a location near Klecka, where some KLA members beat them and threatened one of them with death. At one point during detention, these journalists were told that they had been sentenced to prison, although a trial was never held," the indictment reads.

The Prosecution alleges that the “KLA four” knew or had reason to know that crimes of torture would be committed or that they were committed by persons under their effective control through numerous sources, including their participation in the preparation, planning, and execution of such crimes, their presence at locations where crimes were committed, their receipt of information about the commission of such crimes and their personal observation of evidence of the commission of such crimes.

The Prosecution also states that between April 1998 and January 1999, the commander of the Drenica Operational Zone, Sylejman Selimi, Sabit Geci, and several other members of the KLA, detained at least 25 people, in different periods of time and without due process, in the former police station and some other location in Likovac, near Srbica. Detainees were bound and kept under guard in dark, locked cells with barred windows. Some detainees in Likovac were also detained in other places.

"Specifically, those persons suffered bruises, bleeding, were unable to eat, lost weight, had broken teeth, lost consciousness, suffered serious injuries, broken bones and had psychological and physical problems that continued even after they were released," the indictment on torture in Likovac states.

In Prizren, prisoners were forced to drink paint thinner

The treatment of persons detained in the KLA prison in Prizren was particularly cruel. The indictment states that the evidence indicates that, "on or about June 26, 1999, members of the KLA inflicted severe physical and psychological injuries and suffering on at least three persons who were arrested in Prizren or were imprisoned there."

"Prisoners were kept in a room whose walls were stained with blood. In addition, the accompanying material indicates that members of the KLA abused the arrested and imprisoned persons, both physically and mentally. Specifically, while they were imprisoned in Prizren, members of the KLA brutally beat them, hitting them with, among other things, baseball bats, chains, hammers, sticks, and rubber hoses. Those KLA members also threatened to kill them. Two were ordered to strip and to sexually assault each other. One detainee was forced to drink paint thinner," the indictment reads.

The Prosecution also states that from April to the end of July 1998 at the latest, members of the KLA inflicted severe physical and psychological injuries and suffering on at least 11 persons, who were imprisoned in a property that served as a KLA barracks on the outskirts of Jablanica, Djakovica municipality.

Torture was also carried out in Llapushnik, where from the end of April until 25-26 July 1998, members of the KLA detained and tortured 30 people.

"Specifically, while they were imprisoned in a barn within the KLA prison, KLA members often brutally beat them, using, among other things, batons and rifles. KLA members who were not assigned there also came to the prison and brutally beat the prisoners." it is written in the indictment.

Tomorrow: Liquidations in Klecka, Orahovac, Gjilan...