Hashim Thaçi's lawyer, Sophie Menegon, has asked the trial panel to force Dutch witness Koen Herlaar to answer the questions posed.
Thaçi's defense has reacted to what it said was the witness's refusal to answer questions due to confidentiality. According to it, this witness invited by the SPO has not provided any legal basis for this type of refusal.
"I wanted to emphasize and clarify my objection regarding the witness's refusal to answer questions due to confidentiality. In our opinion, no legal basis has been given for this type of refusal regarding the interpretation of Rule 107 that I cited earlier. I know that in Case 6, the SPO and Thaçi's team have contacted employees of the US Government and the United Nations and have made the request under Rule 107 that witnesses not be forced to answer when the information was confidential, and these measures have been approved by the trial panel," she said.
Hashim Thaçi's defense has requested that the judge force the witness to answer questions or have his testimony disregarded.
"In this case, I would like to request the presiding judge to decide what will happen and the trial panel can adopt the appropriate measures under Rule 107. I mean, either the Prosecution had filed a request under Rule 107 or had a request under Rule 211 to authorize the witness not to answer questions because he needs to protect confidential information regarding microdots. Also, Rule 141 provides that a witness who appears before the trial panel must necessarily give evidence, except in cases where otherwise provided in the rule and in the law. We judge that on this argument that I just made, you should force the witness to answer questions. Either the witness should answer all questions when cross-examining or his testimony should not be taken into account," she added.
Prosecutor Joshua Hafetz said that the information in the report about how he conducted the analysis is sufficient for the trial in this case.
"I think the proposal is this: the defense should ask all the questions they deem important to them, they deem important to them. Let the defense teams be allowed to ask all the questions they want and he can answer the ones he can answer. He has been clear about the ones he cannot answer. This would have been our position in any case. We told them once again that we do not know which questions he cannot answer and we believe that the information in his report is related to the way he has done the analysis and that is enough for this trial or this court for our case. Then you decide the weight you will give to his testimony. He is simply respecting what he said in his report," the prosecutor said.
The sole judge in the case of Thaçi and others for obstruction of justice, Christopher Gosnell, said that this is an unusual situation.
"We are in an unusual situation now, because his testimony is based on a decision that states that admission is conditional on future decisions. So, since this issue has not been raised before, we will proceed as I told you earlier. Of course, I await further submissions from the defense regarding this and we will decide on the appropriate legal remedies," he concluded.
The testimony of Dutchman Koen Herlaar, who is a forensic expert, is continuing in private session, as has happened several times since the morning his hearing began.
This is the second witness in the trial against Hashim Thaçi, Bashkim Smakaj, Isni Kilaj, Fadil Fazliu and Hajredin Kuçi.
The five, who are accused of obstruction of justice, have pleaded not guilty before the jury.
The prosecution claims to possess evidence, including audio recordings from the Detention Center in The Hague.
Defense attorneys have also disputed these claims, saying that the Prosecution's evidence does not prove the commission of the criminal offenses they are accused of.
Hashim Thaçi and others are accused of allegedly providing instructions and confidential information to witnesses for the war crimes trial during their 2023 visits to The Hague.
