Live update

At the end of today’s status conference, Pre-Trial judge in the case against Januzi, Bahtijari and H. Shala issued several oral orders, two of which were related to the funding of the Defence.

Having heard the parties and noting the urgency of the issue concerning the funding of the Defence teams, Judge Guillou ordered the KSC Registry to urgently contact the Ministry of Justice of Kosovo, inquire about the funding status, anticipate the time schedule for the Ministry’s decision and report back by 20 February 2024.

Furthermore, Judge Guillou rejected the Defence’s motion for the stay of proceedings finding that no prejudice is caused to the Defence at this stage by the continuation of the proceedings since the case is still in the pre-trial phase and since the funding issue is already being addressed for resolution.

The next status conference in this case will be scheduled in March.

On 9 February 2024, having received submissions from the Registrar and the parties, the Trial Panel in the Thaçi et al. case found that there is no basis, at this stage, to order that specific measures, similar to the ones set for non-privileged visits on 1 December 2023, be put in place in respect of private visits to the accused. However, the Panel made it clear that any abuse of privileges associated with such visits will be subject to adequate response.

The Panel noted that the Registrar, if necessary, has the authority to impose specific restrictions on a private visit (as per, inter alia, Articles 34(12) and 41(9) of the Law and Rule 27 of the Rules) and has therefore instructed the Registrar to immediately notify the Panel of any such decision, which can be challenged by a detainee within seven days.

The Panel also issued specific orders and reminders to the accused (in particular Thaçi and Selimi), the Registrar and the Lead Counsel for all accused of their obligations regarding confidential information, all of which can be found in the decision.

As announced in our Court Calendar, the status conference in the joint case against Sabit Januzi, Ismet Bahtijari and Haxhi Shala is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 13 February, at 10:00. More information in the scheduling order.

On 8 February 2024, Pre-Trial Judge Guillou granted the SPO request for the joinder of the case against Sabit Januzi and Ismet Bahtijari with the one against Haxhi Shala. Judge Guillou found that the joinder of these two cases meets the requirements of Rule 89(1) of the Rules, that it would serve the proper administration of justice and would not be prejudicial or inconsistent with the rights of the accused.

As for the amended indictment submitted by the SPO in January, Judge Guillou found it non-operative and ordered the SPO to resubmit it. Until then, the joint case will proceed on the basis of the currently confirmed indictments in the two cases.

The new joint case will be renamed The Specialist Prosecutor v. Sabit Januzi, Ismet Bahtijari and Haxhi Shala and will have the case number KSC-BC-2023-10. The current case number KSC-BC-2023-11 (which referred to Haxhi Shala only) will be discontinued but will remain part of the joint case record.

More details in the decision.