Fila: Thaci will be convicted, but there will be no justice for Serbian victims in that process

Lawyer Toma Fila assesses for Kosovo Online that the current course of proceedings against Hashim Thaci and three other former leaders of the KLA indicates that they will be sentenced to long prison terms, but that none of them will ultimately be held accountable for crimes committed against Serbs.

"Justice for Serbs will not be achieved in the trial of Thaci and other former leaders of the KLA. The reason is very simple. All Serbs who were arrested and taken to camps, none of them survived. So, there are no witnesses, no direct participants," Fila says.

As evidence of this claim, he points out that the indictments against former KLA leaders do not include the "Yellow House" or any other event in which crimes were committed against Serbs.

However, he emphasizes that based on the testimony of witnesses gathered so far, there is enough evidence to convict them of crimes they committed against their compatriots.

Fila says that the KLA arrested Albanians either because they collaborated with the Serbian police and army, or because they were supporters of Ibrahim Rugova, or because they refused to provide money to fund the KLA.

"Some of them returned, mostly from strong families, either traditionally, from clans, Albanian tribes, or because they were financially strong. They paid to be released, and now they speak about how they were treated. Some change their testimony because of threats and blackmail," Fila says.

Commenting on the controversies surrounding witness intimidation, Fila says that it was organized.

"This intimidation of witnesses is not only on one person, but also on his family, women, children, job... There are several ways of intimidation and influencing witnesses. Some did not want to give in, and that part will be enough to sentence them to long prison terms," Fila assesses.

He also emphasizes that such sentences are in line with the current government led by Albin Kurti.

"I expect Thaci and others to be convicted because they don't have support. Kurti and the government in Pristina did not participate in the KLA, and they are trying to make a distinction from the behavior of the KLA. But, they still finance and provide all documents and allow pressure on witnesses. That's okay for them, just as long as nothing is publicly seen," Fila highlights.

Drawing a parallel between the trials before the Hague Tribunal of the so-called Kosovo Group, high-ranking officers of the army and police of the former FRY and Serbia, and the current trials of former KLA leaders before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, Fila says the fundamental difference is that, unlike Kosovo, he and other lawyers of accused officers of the Yugoslav Army and Ministry of Internal Affairs did not receive any help from the state.

"I did not receive a single dinar or a single document from the Yugoslav authorities," Fila says.