Kosovo Ex-Guerrilla Leaders’ Trial Hears Allegations of Assault

The seventh witness in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former guerrilla leaders told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday that he suffered psychologically after he was injured by KLA fighters.

"For two years I constantly saw a psychologist," the witness, who was testifying anonymously, told the court.

According to the witness, he used to work in agriculture but was no longer able to do so after his injury.

The witness also claimed that his car had been taken by KLA soldiers and that he had not received any compensation for it.

The majority of his testimony was held in a closed session to protect his identity, and it was not clear when or where the alleged assault took place.

So far the majority of the trial of Thaci and his co-defendants Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi - all former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA leaders who later became senior politicians - has been held in closed sessions.

Amer Alija, legal analyst at the Humanitarian Law Centre Kosovo, which monitors the trials at the Specialist Chambers, told BIRN last month that closed hearings hinder the work of monitors and journalists prevent the general public from following the judicial process properly.

"Even professional monitors of the justice system will encounter difficulties if a large part of the main hearing is closed to the public," Alija said.

The testimony of the sixth witness, which started on Monday afternoon and ended on Tuesday, was also held mainly in a closed session.

The witness told the court that one man who was badly beaten by KLA fighters had told him that the guerrillas who accosted him "told him that he is a...