Live update

On 20 February 2024, the KSC Registrar terminated the services of the duty counsel and appointed Julius von Bóné as the lead counsel for Salih Mustafa, who had already been represented by him during the trial and the appeal phases. Here is the Registrar’s notification.

See our recent posts about the assignment of counsel to Mustafa: 25/01/2024; 30/01/2024; 08/02/2024

This morning, the Defence of Hashim Thaçi continued its cross examination of the 45th SPO witness Hajrush Kurtaj.

Another KSC weekly press briefing will take place on Thursday, 22 February, at 14:30. During this briefing, the KSC Spokespersons will provide a short update on the latest developments in the judicial proceedings before the KSC, as well as on other public activities of the Court. Journalists will have the opportunity to ask questions. Pre-registration is required to attend each briefing. To pre-register, please send an email with name and affiliation to [email protected]. Deadline for pre-registration is every Thursday at 12:00. The Zoom details will be shared following pre-registration. Recordings of the update provided during the Weekly Press Briefings will be made available on the KSC YouTube Channel.

On 9 February, Trial Panel I closed the evidentiary proceedings in the Pjetër Shala case, ordered the parties to submit their final trial briefs, together with the statement on the impact of the alleged crimes on the participating victims by 25 March and scheduled the closing statements to take place from 15 until 19 April 2024.

Here is the public redacted version of the Panel’s order, filed on 20 February.

This morning, SPO continued its direct examination of the 45th witness Hajrush Kurtaj.

Please note that, as announced yesterday, today’s hearing is scheduled to last longer than usual (until 17:15).

Following the completion of the testimony of the 46th SPO witness W00498, the SPO called its previous (the 45th) witness, whose testimony already commenced on 1 February. This is a former KLA officer Hajrush Kurtaj.

As per the order of the Trial Panel in the Thaҫi et al. case, we informed about last week, the KSC Registrar terminated the services of Gregory Kehoe and Joe Reeder as Thaci’s counsel and co-counsel and appointed Luka Mišetić as the new lead counsel for the accused. Here is the Registrar's notification.

The SPO called its 46th witness in the trial of Thaçi et al. this morning. The witness is testifying with the pseudonym W00498 but without facial and voice distortion. According to the summary read by the SPO in court, this witness will testify about the kidnapping of his family members in the area of Rahovec/Orahovac.

Prior to the testimony of this witness, the Panel issued an oral order directing Luka Mišetić to provide the updated list of the Thaçi’s Defence team members by 11 March.

The Panel also informed the parties about an additional hearing tomorrow (21 February), which will take place at the conclusion of the regular hearing. According to the Panel’s announcement this morning, this hearing will be dedicated to the scheduling and planning of these proceedings.

As per the decision of the Pre-Trial Judge on 8 February, the SPO filed an amended version of the initial indictment against Januzi and Bahtijari. In his decision, the Pre-Trial Judge concluded that the amended indictment, available here, not only corrects Bahtijari's surname but also improves the clarity and precision of the case and is not unfair or inconsistent with the rights of the accused.

However, please note that the joint indictment in this case (which would also include H. Shala) is still to be filed by the SPO, as per the same decision of the Pre-Trial Judge.

Furthermore, the SPO also submitted its pre-trial brief in the joint case, as well as the witness' and the exhibits’ list. All of these are filed confidentially but the relevant filing informing of this submission is available here.

Here is the transcript of today's KSC Weekly Press Briefing.