Alija: There will be no delay in the verdict in the case against Thaci and others

Legal expert Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Center believes that there will be no delay in the verdict in the case against Thaci and others and that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers will meet the set deadline for the first-instance judgment.

“If we are talking about the case against Thaci and others who are charged with war crimes, as we know, the main trial has already been concluded and there is no new evidence. However, we saw that last month the defense complained that the court had disclosed some new evidence,” Alija said.

He explains that this evidence is already “in the system.”

“But these are not new pieces of evidence, rather evidence that is already in the system. As we know, the court issued a decision on this matter and explained that these are not new pieces of evidence, but that the court is already working on analyzing them and drafting the first-instance judgment,” Alija added.

He believes that the verdict will not be delayed.

“This cannot delay the verdict, because these are not new pieces of evidence. The deadline for delivering the first-instance judgment is prescribed by the court’s rules of procedure. Within 90 days, the court should issue the first-instance judgment, but it may request an additional 60 days if it considers the case complex and that the trial panel needs more time to analyze all the evidence. In that case, the deadline may be extended to a total of 150 days, within which the first-instance judgment should be delivered,” our interlocutor said.