Indictments against Kosovo's Thaci and Veseli sent to pre-trial judge

president-ksgov.net

The Special Prosecutors Office for Kosovo based in The Hague wrote the 10-point charges against President Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli, former Parliament speaker, and sent them to the Specialised Chambers of Kosovo for confirmation, N1 reported on Wednesday.

The two, and other individuals, are indicted of several crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including the killings, forcible displacement, persecution and torture.

They are suspected of criminal liability for some 100 murders.

“The victims of the indictees include some 100 people whose identity is known and among whom there are Kosovo Albanians, Serbs, Roma and of other nationalities, as well as political foes. The indictment resulted from long-lasting investigations and reflected the prosecutors’ confidence in the ability to prove all accusations,” the Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement.

The pre-trial judge of the Specialised Chambers of Kosovo is currently looking into the indictment to rule whether to confirm it.

The prosecutor thought it necessary to publish that the indictment was written due to Thaci's and Veseli's continued attempts to obstruct and undermine the work of the Specialised Chambers, the Wednesday's statement said.

It added that Thaci and Veseli, conducted a secret campaign to annul the law based on which the Specialised Chambers were formed as a court, and obstructed the court's work in other ways.

“With such acts, Thaci and Veseli showed they saw their interests as more important than the victims of their crimes, the rule of law and Kosovo's entire population,” the statement said.

Thaci is due in Washington for the meeting at the White House with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic on June 27 to discuss the resumption of the Belgarde – Pristina dialogue on the normalisation of relations as invited by the US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the negotiations Richard Grenell.