tensions in prison over witness protection

Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi allegedly “took advantage of their non-privileged visits (privileged visits are those between an accused and his lawyer) to illegally disseminate protected information about witnesses, identify witnesses and, in the case of Thaçi, have requested on several occasions to visitors to seek to manipulate testimonies,” wrote the prosecutor’s office of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, based in The Hague, on November 17. “Several protected witnesses in this case reported being approached by people attempting to prevent or influence their testimony,” the prosecutor said. “In a number of cases it was indicated that these approaches were led by one or more of the three defendants and/or people who visited them in The Hague. »

Former Kosovo President Thaçi and his two co-defendants – who were also high-ranking figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war to gain independence from Serbia – are currently on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. With the judges’ permission, prosecutors recorded some of the three defendants’ visits. Some of the evidence collected is contained in a redacted form of its presentation to judges. One example shows that a witness was approached in March 2023 and told that Thaçi and Veseli had “directly asked” one of their visitors to The Hague prison to arrange for someone to deliver the message that one of the witnesses, whose name is protected, “should withdraw” or weaken his testimony. In another case, a witness was also approached and asked to soften his testimony “for the good of Kosovo”. Another witness reports “several attempts to interfere with his testimony by several individuals.”

Prosecutors point out that “it was common for unscheduled detainees to enter and participate in visits for which they were not authorized to be present”, thus showing that on several occasions Veseli “went to the scheduled visits of other detainees “. These include visits to Thaçi and Selimi in July this year, three months after the trial began.

Explain to witnesses how they should testify

The recordings used by prosecutors further allegedly showed the defendants revealing “the identities of protected witnesses and confidential details.” Additional evidence reveals that Thaçi “showed visitors, and eventually provided a copy, one or more witness statements, and provided instructions to convey to the witness,” the prosecutor wrote. In the transcript of the recording, Thaçi flips through the pages of the copy of the witness statement and says to the visitor: “I need to give you a little guidance.”

It appears that the former president of Kosovo met with at least two witnesses before or after their testimony. According to the prosecutor, evidence shows that Thaçi gave instructions on “how witnesses should testify and asked his visitors to approach witnesses in his favor.” In a transcript of a recorded conversation with visitors, Thaçi said: “The boss was Adem Demaçi, he should make it clear,” then “Tell him: ‘You come here, leave this place as a hero.’ Don’t leave in shame. Demaçi was a human rights defender who embodied Kosovo’s national resistance and is often considered the Nelson Mandela of Kosovo. For a short time he was also the main politician of the KLA, from which he resigned in 1999. He died in 2018.

“All three defendants actively engaged in unlawful conduct detrimental to the safety, security, and well-being of witnesses,” prosecutors concluded. In response to this, Special Prosecutor Kimberly West, who signed the filing, asked the trial court to prohibit all unprivileged in-person visits and restrict communications to a “defined set of immediate family and caregivers consulars”. All correspondence and imported items must be examined and all outward video and audio communications must be actively monitored by an Albanian speaker, the prosecutor demanded. Exemptions are granted for privileged contacts, that is, communications and visits by lawyers, but limited only to counsel and co-counsel of the accused. A “separation of the three accused from all other current detainees” is also requested. Such measures are deemed by the prosecution to be “necessary and proportionate” to “preserve the integrity of the procedure”. There is “a concrete risk of unlawful attempts to interfere with witnesses and obstruct their testimony,” they wrote.

A long history of witness intimidation

The judges quickly recognized that this risk seemed real and granted the interim measures requested by the prosecution. All communications with the outside world were suspended and the three men were isolated until the final decision of the judges, following requests from the defense and the registry service in charge of detentions. As of November 30, no redacted version of the defense response was available. The problem is that Thaçi, Veseli and Selimi could transmit messages via other detainees, who were their subordinates in the KLA.

The three men have been in detention since November 2020. The trial opened last April. The prosecution is expected to present its case until spring 2025. Kosovo’s Specialist Chambers, made up of international judges and lawyers, were created in 2015 to handle cases against ex-UCK guerrillas. The Chambers were specifically set up outside Kosovo due to concerns over witness protection, with former KLA leaders seen by many as heroes in the Balkan country.

Witness protection incidents are not a first in the history of the Kosovo Chambers and many measures are already in place to try to protect witnesses, such as anonymity during proceedings and numerous closed sessions . In 2022, the president and vice president of the KLA veterans’ association, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, were found guilty of obstructing justice and intimidating witnesses. Earlier this month, prosecutors arrested and brought to The Hague Isni Kilaj, a former KLA member and current member of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK), formerly led by Thaçi. Kilaj is suspected of obstructing the administration of justice, possibly by interfering with witnesses.

Witness intimidation has been at the heart of successive attempts by the international community to bring to account those responsible for serious crimes committed during the Kosovo war. This was already an obstacle to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). For example, when ICTY judges acquitted Fatmir Limaj, a former KLA commander and founding member of the KDP, they wrote that many witnesses “expressed concern for their lives and those of their families” and that this fear was very insightful, especially for witnesses still living in Kosovo.