Kadri Veseli

Hashim Thaci's defence has filed a motion calling on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague to dismiss the indictment charging him with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and claiming that the court has exceeded its jurisdiction.

Gani Koci, a former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla turned politician, announced on Facebook on Thursday that he has been summoned as a witness by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague, which is probing wartime and post-war crimes in Koosvo.

Lawyers for former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA guerrilla leaders accused the prosecution at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday of hindering the defence's efforts to prepare its case by not properly disclosing evidence.

Shehu is one of scores of Albanian army officers who joined the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA in its war against the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police and paramilitaries in 1999.

The Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans' Organisation branch in the town of Has said on Tuesday evening that former guerrilla Nezir Cocaj, who is running for re-election as an MP next month, has been called for questioning by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague.

A poster in Pristina in July 2020 describing Thaci and Veseli as heroes. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers published on Monday a redacted decision by a pre-trial judge confirming an indictment against former President Hashim Thaci and three former fellow guerrilla commanders accusing them of crimes against humanity and war crimes during and after the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

On BIRN's televised programme Jeta ne Kosove on Thursday, Agriculture Minister Besian Mustafa expressed his dismay at the failure of the justice system in Kosovo to shed light on the murder of his father, Xhemajl, in 2000.

"The voices of the victims are indispensable to justice."

These were the words of the president of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Ekaterina Trendafilova, when she called on victims of crimes allegedly committed by four former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas who have since become senior politicians to participate in their war crimes case at the Hague-based court.

Among those called in for interviews have been prominent political figures like Ramush Haradinaj, head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK party, who resigned as prime minister when he was summoned, and the former speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Kadri Veseli, who is head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK.