Pristina counts down to verdict for former KLA leaders, residents expect their release

Ahead of the verdict in the case of former KLA leaders in The Hague, the central square in Pristina has been decorated with KLA flags, while a "waiting clock" has also been installed, counting down the time until the verdict is announced. Residents who spoke to the Kosovo Online team say they hope that Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi will soon be free again.

The clock counting down in Pristina's main square is part of a broader public campaign called "Kosovo is Waiting" ("Kosova po pret"), launched by the civic platform "Freedom Has a Name."

The organization has also announced that it is preparing a major protest, the "March for Freedom", which will be held in Pristina on September 12.

Pristina residents say it is not right that the former KLA leaders have already spent six years in detention.

"I think they will be acquitted because there is not a single element of a criminal offense for which they are accused, and we expect an acquittal for all of them," one resident said.

Ramiz Krasniqi points out that the trial has lasted too long and that it is time for the former KLA leaders to be free.

"I think it is time, and they must be free, regardless of what happens, because there is always some verdict with arguments, and the arguments are not certain and accurate, so my opinion is that they should be acquitted. They have been in detention for six years. I have never heard of a group or individual being held in detention for more than a year. Six years is too long. It is time to release them and let them be free like everyone else," Krasniqi said.

Musa Aliu also shares the opinion of the other residents and is convinced that Hashim Thaci and the others will return home.

"I think they will be acquitted because two points of the indictment have fallen apart. They were serious points, but they were not established, and therefore I think they will return to their homes. It is important that people who should be released are released," Aliu said.

One resident says he has no confidence in the court in The Hague.

"The word 'liberation' itself means that they were right. They sought what they did not have, and here we are. Now, the international court is one issue that depends on which angle you look at it from. We see it as having been created by Serbian politics," he said.

Asked whether there was a possibility that Thaci could once again become president of Kosovo, he said that this would depend on the verdict.

"The matter is so complicated that no one can say what will happen, because if the international court issues a decision banning him from engaging in politics, that is something else," he said.

The verdict in the case of the former KLA leaders will be delivered on September 16.