Live update

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.

Another KSC weekly press briefing will take place on Thursday, 20 February, at 14:30. During this briefing, the KSC Spokespersons will provide a short update on the latest developments in the judicial proceedings before the KSC, as well as on other public activities of the Court. Journalists will have the opportunity to ask questions. Pre-registration is required to attend each briefing. To pre-register, please send an email with name and affiliation to [email protected]. Deadline for pre-registration is every Thursday at 12:00. The Zoom details will be shared following pre-registration. Recordings of the update provided during the Weekly Press Briefings will be made available on the KSC YouTube Channel.

On 18 February, KSC President Trendafilova assigned  Judge Gilbert Bitti as Single Judge to continue overseeing the execution of the Reparation order against Salih Mustafa, as it still remains to be fully implemented. As was the case last time, the Single Judge is assigned for the period of one year and he will receive reports from the Registrar on any action taken before the Crime Victim Compensation Program in Kosovo.