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The prosecutor who led the criminal prosecution of the 'butcher of the Balkans', Slobodan Milosevic, has stated that the request for 45 years in prison against former KLA leaders is unusual.
Former prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Geoffrey Nice, in an interview with KosovaPress, says that he never anticipated that a new court could be established to investigate war crimes, much less that it would deal with only a specific group.
"Well, it seems like a somewhat strange sentence to ask for, because I don't believe, from the very little I know, that the charges against him are as serious as, for example, some of the charges made and sentenced, perhaps with fewer years in prison than 45 years at the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia," he says.
81-year-old British lawyer Geoffrey Nice says that after finishing his work at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, he was asked to write an article for the London Review of Books regarding Dick Marty's report, which alleged that Hashim Thaçi and others were involved in the killing of Serbs.
Nice, who was once involved with local institutions through his opinions regarding the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, says that from the beginning he felt that this court had "indirect goals."
The Briton, who has a long career in the field of international and public criminal law, emphasizes in an interview with KosovaPress that he has considered the establishment of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague unnecessary from the beginning.
The Special Court has so far indicted six people for alleged war crimes: Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, Rexhep Selimi, Pjetër Shala and Salih Mustafa. Shala has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, while Mustafa has been sentenced to 15 years.
As for what the epilogue will be in the case against Thaçi and others, known as the grand trial, Nice says it is difficult to predict.
The Specialist Chambers are part of the Kosovo judicial system but operate with international staff in The Hague, Netherlands.
The European Union is the main funder of the Specialist Court, which was established in 2015 by the Kosovo Assembly, following the request of the international community.
The former prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is also asked whether he considers politics to have an influence on this judicial process.
Since Kosovo's declaration of independence, the country has been constantly "in the shadow" of this court, says Geoffrey Nice. He emphasizes that it is important that the truth is accurately documented.
The case against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selim and Jakup Krasniqi is now closed and the case is in the hands of the judges for a decision. They gave their final arguments on February 18, where they again declared themselves not guilty of all charges brought against them by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office.
The defense teams of the KLA four have also requested that they be declared innocent of all counts of the indictment.
After the closing statements of the parties, which mark the final phase of the process, the panel has 90 days to reach a decision, but this deadline can be extended at the request of the panel. The exact date of the announcement of the verdict is not yet known.
Their trial began on April 3, 2023, almost three years after the indictment was confirmed, during which the former KLA leaders have been held in the detention center in The Hague.
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