Kosovo Guerrilla Leaders Accused of Witness-Tampering Ahead of Trial

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, where the suspects will be tried. Photo: EPA-EFE/Phil Nijhuis.

The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague released documents this week which accuse former Kosovo Liberation Army chiefs who are now senior politicians, including recently-resigned President Hashim Thaci, of attempting to interfere with potential prosecution witnesses ahead of their impending trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The redacted documents, which date from May this year, constitute a request from the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers to arrest the four suspects, transfer them to The Hague and search their property, which eventually happened earlier this month.

The arrest request argues that the four ex-KLA men – Thaci, along with Kadri Veseli, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Jakup Krasniqi, a senior figure in the Social Democratic Initiative (NISMA) party, and Rexhep Selimi, the chief of Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party’s MPs in parliament – “wield enormous influence over former KLA members and Kosovo in general”.

It accuses the suspects of having “actively facilitated and encouraged a climate of impunity and intimidation” and claims that “there is already evidence of attempts to interfere with SPO [Specialist Prosecutor’s Office] investigative activities”.

It alleges that “government officials loyal to Thaci and Veseli have presided over corrupt government pay-outs to potential SPO [prosecution] witnesses”. Thaci is also accused of indirectly offering “various benefits” to a potential witness in the case.

The attempts to influence potential witnesses “have also included hiring them to government positions”, it further alleges.

“In the indictment time period, the suspects were superiors to many of the SPO’s potential witnesses. They continue to hold high positions of authority and/or influence. They have the means, motive, and opportunity to interfere with witnesses, victims, or accomplices, and otherwise seek to obstruct proceedings,” it warns.

“All have access to significant funds, and can readily mobilise a vast network of supporters and government officials, including persons with security, police and intelligence expertise,” it continues, adding that they are “capable of provoking public disorder if they see it in their interest”.

“Individually and collectively, they have the ability to manipulate government bodies to evade and thwart proceedings against them, and to mobilise additional support bases, including those formerly under their command in the KLA and groups like the KLA War Veterans Association,” it says.

All four men are charged with a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity including illegal detentions, torture, murder, enforced disappearances and persecution from at least March 1998 to September 1999.

The indictment alleges that they were part of a “joint criminal enterprise” that aimed to take control over Kosovo “by means including unlawfully intimidating, mistreating, committing violence against, and removing those deemed to be opponents”.

Most of the crimes in the indictment were committed at KLA detention centres in Kosovo and Albania.

Thaci, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi have all pleaded not guilty and have asked to be released on bail. None of them has reacted publicly so far to the prosecution’s allegations in the redacted arrest request.

The arrest request goes on to detail some of the suspects’ alleged involvement in the intimidation of witnesses in previous trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY.

The redacted document alleges that former Kosovo Intelligence Service (SHIK) members loyal to Veseli were “implicated in surveilling, threatening and bribing witnesses testifying against former KLA members at the ICTY”.

It also alleges that “individuals who worked for Rexhep Selimi were implicated” in an attempt to kill a witness, and further notes that Selimi has been “blacklisted by the United States government” and sanctioned by the US Treasury.

“As is apparent from prior prosecutions, including those involving named JCE [joint criminal enterprise] members and other close associates of the suspects, there is an endemic climate of severe witness interference and intimidation in trials involving former KLA members,” it argues.

The prosecution points out that during the course of their trial, the defendants will inevitably learn the identities of prosecution witnesses, “readily exposing such witnesses to a heightened risk of intimidation”.

Some of the witnesses have been relocated outside Kosovo for their protection, but not all agreed to being moved abroad, it explains.

“In the circumstances of a trial against senior KLA members, protective measures will not fully address risks of interference and intimidation,” it says, arguing that detaining the suspects will reduce their ability to interfere with witnesses.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers were set up to try crimes allegedly committed during and just after the Kosovo war from 1998 to 2000. They are part of Kosovo’s judicial system but located in the Netherlands and staffed by internationals.

They were set up under pressure from Kosovo’s Western allies, who feared that Kosovo’s justice system was not robust enough to try KLA cases and protect witnesses from interference.

The so-called ‘special court’ is widely resented by Kosovo Albanians who see it as an insult to the KLA’s war for liberation from Serbian rule.