Live update

On 12 April, the Court of Appeals Panel denied the appeal by Haxhi Shala against the Pre-Trial Judge’s decision ordering his continued detention. More details in the decision (public redacted version) of the Court of Appeals panel.

Another KSC weekly press briefing will take place on Thursday, 18 April, 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.

After the lunch break, the Trial Panel did not have any questions, so the trial proceeded with the parties presenting their arguments on reparations. Afterward, the accused provided his statement, and the closing statements were finished, marking the end of the trial. Please note that the accused's statement was mostly redacted, as ordered by the Panel.

The Panel will deliver its judgment in due course.

The hearings on 18 and 19 April are cancelled.

Following the completion of the parties' responses and comments, today's hearing is adjourned for the lunch break until 14:00 (or 14:45 in the online streaming). After that, the hearing is expected to resume with the Panel's questions and submissions on reparations.

At the end of the closing statement today, Pjetër Shala's Defence requested the Trial Panel to acquit the accused. The hearing will continue with responses from the SPO and the Victims' Counsel, if any.

The Defence team of Pjetër Shala resumed their closing statement this morning, which started yesterday.

Following the conclusion of the presentation of the closing statement by the Victims’ Counsel, the Defence team of Pjetër Shala has now begun the delivery of their closing statement.

Victims’ Counsel Simon Laws is now presenting his closing statement in the P. Shala trial.

At the end of its closing statement today, the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office requested the Trial Panel to find Pjetër Shala guilty of all the crimes charged and to sentence him to 28 years in prison. 

Today’s hearing is adjourned and the trial resumes tomorrow morning at 09:30 with the closing statement of the Victims’ counsel.

Please note that the lunch break today will last until 13:45 (14:30 in the delayed online feed). After that, there will be another session from 13:45 until 15:15 (14:30 – 16:00 online), followed by a 15-minute break. The last session should be held from 15:30 until 16:00 (16:15 – 16:45 online).