Alija: The defense had credible witnesses during the trial, we will see what the court decides

Attorney Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Center believes that the defense witnesses in the proceedings against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi were credible and testified in the direction that the KLA was not some ideal army with hierarchy and control over its soldiers.

“This week marked the closing arguments of the parties in the process against Thaci and the others. What the parties did during the proceedings was to challenge each other’s arguments and evidence. The prosecution still claims that there are grounds for the four accused to be punished for war crimes and crimes against humanity and requested prison sentences of 45 years for each defendant, while on the other hand the defense argued that the prosecution did not have enough evidence to substantiate its charges,” Alija said.

He states that the defense witnesses were credible and testified in the direction that the KLA was not an ideal army with hierarchy and control over its soldiers.

“Now we will see what the Trial Panel decides, because we as the public had limited access to the prosecution’s statements. About 50 percent of the prosecution’s witnesses were anonymous and we did not have insight into those statements. Also, in certainly 80 percent of the material evidence, the public, the media and observers likewise did not have access,” our interlocutor said.

He recalls that the Court will deliver a first-instance verdict in the proceedings against Thaci and the others within the next three to five months.