Live update

The testimony of the SPO's witness W01493 resumes this morning in the Thaçi et al. trial.

As can be seen in our Court Calendar, please be informed that the hearings in the Shala case, scheduled for 19 and 22 January, are cancelled. 

The trial in the case of Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi resumed this morning with the testimony of a new SPO witness. This is protected witness W01493 who is testifying via video-conference. According to the summary read by the SPO in court, this witness served in the Dukadjini Operational zone during the relevant period and his testimony should provide information on the structure of and the relationship between the KLA and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo (FARK).

As per the oral order of Pre-Trial Judge Guillou on 14 December 2023, the SPO today submitted a joint indictment for the cases of Januzi&Bahtijari and Haxhi Shala. The joint indictment is confidential and here is the filing informing about the submission.

The Pre-Trial Judge will decide on the SPO request for the joinder of these two cases in due course.

On 11 January, the Constitutional Court panel seised of Haradinaj’s referral, filed in November last year, decided to defer its decision on the matter until it has received additional submissions by the parties, namely the SPO submission to the referral as well as its response to the latest request by Haradinaj for the admission of a new piece of evidence. The Defence is also invited to submit its reply to the SPO’s response, if it wishes to do so. More details, including the actual deadlines for these submissions, can be found here.

On 11 January, the Court of Appeals Panel denied the appeal by Isni Kilaj against the Single Judge’s decision ordering his continued detention. More details in the decision (public redacted version) of the Court of Appeals panel.

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

Another KSC weekly press briefing will take place on Thursday, 11 January, 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.

Following the completion of the testimony of the Defence witness Safet Gashi, the trial in the case of P. Shala adjourned for today and for the week, so the hearings scheduled for tomorrow and the day after (11 and 12 January) are cancelled. The next scheduled hearings are on 19 and 22 January but the Panel will confirm in due course whether they will be held or not. 

During today’s hearing, the Panel issued a number of oral orders, one of which was in relation to the Defence’s request to add an expert witness (psychologist) and her expert report to its list of witnesses and exhibits as well as to call her to testify in person on 19 January. The Panel today granted the request in part and ordered that the witness and the report (which the Panel found relevant for the purposes of sentencing) be added to the Defence lists of witnesses and evidence. The Panel however rejected the part of the Defence’s request for this testimony in court. 

The SPO resumes the cross-examination of the Defence’s 10th witness Safet Gashi this morning.