The closing statement of Jakup Krasniqi's defense team continued today at the Special Court in The Hague. Krasniqi's lawyer, Aidan Ellis, said that the Prosecution has failed to prove that Krasniqi made a significant contribution to the crimes committed in his capacity as spokesman for the Kosovo Liberation Army.
"The prosecution has failed to prove that Krasniqi made a significant contribution to the crimes committed in his capacity as spokesman, no connection has been found between Krasniqi and the relevant crimes, which means that nothing has been proven beyond reasonable doubt," he added.
Krasniqi's lawyer, Aidan Ellis, said that the Specialist Prosecutor's Office has no right to draw conclusions about whether measures were taken based on public statements or whether they contributed to the commission of crimes.
"Therefore, these witnesses cannot confirm the widespread distribution of the statements and, not being members of the KLA, cannot confirm whether these statements had a significant impact on the relevant crimes. By not showing the statements to the witnesses related to this evidence, the SPO is not entitled to conclude that the statements were widely distributed, read and acted upon or that they contributed significantly to the commission of the crimes," he said.
Krasniqi's lawyer said that most of the ZPS's evidence did not prove any ruthless practices on the ground.
He even said that 99% of soldiers have never seen the temporary regulations.
"The prosecution has failed to find a connection between the KLA regulations and the crimes in the indictment. What the prosecution has done in paragraph 125 of the final file is to highlight a line from the temporary regulation, a line that says 'the military police must be ruthless with enemies and persons who in various ways try to hinder, sabotage our efforts for freedom' and then adds that this has influenced the practices of opponents in the field. And they have relied on a footnote... I would ask you to look at it very carefully because in our opinion it does not prove that there was a policy by the military police to be ruthless in the field. Most of the witnesses usually spoke of a general regulation that defined the duties of the military police and then the military police translated it as they wanted. Most of the evidence has not proven any ruthless practices in the field. It does not prove their argument because in fact they have not addressed the essence of the argument," he said.
Regarding the Jakup Krasniqi period and the connection between field visits and the commission of crimes, Ellis called it a wrong approach and according to him, the SPO has not provided any evidence for this claim.
Describing the ZPS's claims as weak, Krasniqi's lawyer said that the prosecution cannot claim that his client contributed to any crime.
"In the final file, the prosecution wrongly attempts to link Krasniqi's presence at several alleged crime sites to the commission of the crimes without providing a single piece of evidence as to whether he saw any persons detained at any site or whether his presence contributed in any way to the commission of the crimes..10/50/39On Monday, we heard from the prosecution that there were more than 50 detention sites that were charged in the indictment. For most of these sites, there is no evidence that Krasniqi visited these sites at the time or had any knowledge of any crimes being committed there. No evidence or proof has been provided that Krasniqi was in these sites, including Drenoc, Budakovo, Jeshkovo, Dobratina, Cirez, Boni, Bubel, Zlash Verbani and several sites in Prizren..nor has the prosecution explained how it can prove the connection between the person's words and visits to the detention sites...10'52'13No "They can claim that Krasniqi saw detained persons or testified or saw with his own eyes or was present in the area or contributed to a crime. To say that he was simply present is not enough, these are very weak claims, the prosecution did this because there is no evidence to find a connection between Krasniqi and the crimes," emphasized lawyer Elis.
On February 9, the Specialist Chambers began presenting closing arguments in the case of former KLA leaders.
This marks the final phase of the largest trial in the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
The defense teams of Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selim and Jakup Krasniqi have requested that they be declared innocent of all counts of the indictment.
They stated before the trial panel that there is no evidence to support the ZPS's claims of war crimes.
Chief Specialized Prosecutor Kimberly West has requested a 45-year prison sentence for each of the former KLA leaders.
Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi are facing charges brought by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, which they have described as unfounded. The defense has also rejected these charges and argued that the KLA did not have an organized command structure.
Their trial began on April 3, 2023 - almost three years after the indictment was confirmed, since when the former KLA leaders have been held in the detention center in The Hague. /kp/
