Live update

Please be informed that today’s lunch break in the P. Shala trial will last from 12:30 until 14:00 (or 13:15 – 14:45 in the delayed feed), after which the trial is expected to continue until 16:00 as usual.

This morning, the trial in the case of Pjetër  Shala resumed after the winter recess with the testimony of the 10th Defence witness. This is Safet Gashi, who is testifying without protective measures.

On 8 December 2023, Pre-Trial Judge Guillou rejected the application for provisional release of Sabit Januzi. The public redacted version of the decision is now available here. Earlier last year, Judge Guillou also denied the similar request by Bahtijari, that decision is here.

On 2 January 2024, the Trial Panel granted in part the request by the Veseli Defence and vacated the hearings in this case from 12 until 15 February. The Panel found that the Defence has shown a good cause for a limited adjustment of the schedule in order to ensure that the Defence’s ability to prepare for the cross-examination of the upcoming witnesses is unaffected by the recent sudden death of its co-counsel and the subsequent recruitment of his replacement. 

On 20 December 2023, the Trial Panel issued its decision on the complaints by Selimi (joined by Thaçi and Veseli) in relation to the Registrar’s implementation of the Panel’s decision from 1 December regarding the modified detention conditions. The Panel noted that such complaints should first be submitted directly to the Registrar and, if denied, the detainees can request judicial review of the Registrar’s decision within 30 days by the Panel. Therefore, the Panel denied the requests and the joinders finding them inconsistent with the procedure set out in the Practice Direction on Complaints and also premature. More details in the decision.

See here our previous posts about this matter: 23 November; 4 December.

As announced in our Calendar, the winter court recess at the KSC begins on Monday, 18 December 2023 and ends on 5 January 2024. During this period, no hearings are held and some non-essential services are reduced to a minimum. However, the court remains fully functional during this period and work continues across all sections of the KSC. Filings are possible during the recess and, unless otherwise ordered by the judges, judicial deadlines continue running.

Please be informed that the video of the status conference/further appearances held today, 15 December, in the Haxhi Shala case is now available in all three languages on our Youtube channel. 

During today’s status conference, Haxhi Shala requested to enter his plea and the Pre-Trial Judge granted the request. The accused pleaded not guilty to all three charges of the indictment against him.

Please be informed that the video of the appeal judgment in the Mustafa case is now available on our Youtube channel. Click here to watch the video in English.

During the status conference in the Januzi and Bahtijari case today, Pre-Trial Judge Nicolas Guillou issued an oral order directing the SPO to file its proposed joinder indictment by 12 January 2024 at 16:00. This refers to the latest SPO’s request for a joinder of the cases against Januzi&Bahtijari and Haxhi Shala into one single trial, filed on 13 December.