On 19 February 2025, the Pre-trial Judge in the case related to administration of justice offences against Thaci and others denied a second request for temporary release on compassionate grounds of Hashim Thaҫi. Similar to the last time, the Judge found that Thaçi has not demonstrated the existence of exceptional and compelling humanitarian grounds justifying his temporary release. The public redacted version of this decision, filed on 25 February, is available here.

The legal framework of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers allows detained persons to make requests for a custodial visit to Kosovo when there are compelling humanitarian grounds. The relevant judges decide on any such requests, based on the information provided at the time a request is made.

On 26 February 2025, the Trial Panel in the Thaçi et al. case issued its decision regarding a request from all four Defence teams asking the Panel to take measures to ensure the impartiality of the proceedings and to avoid prejudice against the accused. Specifically, the Defence's request addresses the Panel's method of questioning SPO witnesses, alleging, among other things, that it creates an appearance of bias.

The Panel took note of the Defence objections but has rejected the request, concluding that the judicial questioning did not violate the Accused’s rights nor would they lead a reasonably informed observer to reasonably perceive bias. Further details can be found in the ruling issued by the panel.

This is the second decision in this case regarding the Defence's objections to how the Panel has questioned the witnesses. The previous decision was made by the Court of Appeal Panel in July 2023, when the first Defence request was also rejected.

On 25 February, 2025, the Supreme Court Panel, composed of Judges Ekaterina Trendafilova (Presiding), Christine van den Wyngaert, and Daniel Fransen, rejected the requests for protection of legality, submitted by both Mustafa and the SPO. These requests were filed in connection with the Court of Appeals' ruling from 10 September of the previous year, which had imposed a new 15-year sentence on Mustafa.

Among other points, the Panel determined that Mustafa failed to identify how the 15-year sentence constitutes a violation of the criminal law. Regarding the SPO’s request, the Panel concluded that only mere disagreements with particular decisions do not meet the rigorous standards required for a successful request for protection of legality.

More information can be found in the Panel's ruling.

The Prosecution’s 123^rd witness Ismet Tara completed his testimony this afternoon, after which the trial adjourned for today and for the week. The hearings on 26 and 27 February are cancelled. The trial will resume on Monday, 17 March 2025, at 09:00.

SPO witness Ismet Tara resumes his testimony this morning. Following the witness's request yesterday, he is accompanied by a duty counsel today. The Registrar's notification of this assignment is available here.

Following the Panel’s decision to give additional time to the Defence to make submissions on the proposed tendered evidence by the SPO in relation to the current witness, the trial in the Thaci et al. case has adjourned for today. It will resume tomorrow, 25 February, at 09:00, when the cross-examination of witness Ismet Tara by the Defence is expected to commence.

Ismet Tara is the new SPO witness, whose testimony commenced this morning. This is the 123^rd SPO witness in court so far.

On 19 February 2025, KSC President Trendafilova decided to modify the sentences for Sabit Januzi and Ismet Bahtijari and provide for their release about 21 February, under certain conditions. More details in the press release as well as in the President’s decisions (Januzi; Bahtijari).

Following the Panel’s ruling in the Januzi et al. case on 4 February, KSC Registrar informed that the total amount of reparations (500 EUR) has been transferred to Victim 1 within the designated timeframe. More details in the Registrar’s Report.

Here is the transcript of today's KSC Weekly Press Briefing.