Prosecutors in Kosovo Guerrillas’ Trial Attempting ‘Ambush’: Lawyers

Defence lawyers of recently-resigned Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former guerrilla fighters turned politicians accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity argued at a status conference at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Thursday that the prosecution is trying to restrict the defence's ability to prepare for the trial.

The prosecution said on Thursday that it will submit the pre-trial brief, which includes the evidence and legal arguments planned to be used in trial by the prosecution, only a maximum of three months before the start of the trial.

"We will file the pre-trial brief in July [2021], two to three months before the start of trial," prosecutor Alan Tieger said, implying that he expects the trial to start in September.

"Even if the date of trial commencement changes, we will remain our position on filing two to three months before trial," Tieger added.

The defence lawyers for Thaci and his co-accused, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, said this would limit the defence's ability to investigate and prepare its arguments against the prosecution's evidence.

Ben Emmerson, the lead counsel for Veseli, argued that "they want to restrict … the defence by imposing a limit of three months to prepare".

He claimed adding that the right to a fair trial was being violated and "a trial ambush is happening here".

The defence has said it will need a minimum of 18 months to properly read, analyse and then investigate the mass of evidence material that the prosecution has.

A 600-page redacted request to present additional supporting evidence, was also submitted by the prosecution on Monday, explaining the evidence that the prosecution says it has to prove that Thaci and the three...