From Germany, France and Norway — the three judges who will review the verdict against the KLA four

Kosovo’s Specialist Chambers have appointed the Appeals Panel that will review the challenge to the verdict against the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, Telegrafi reports.

The panel consists of French judge Michèle Picard, German judge Kai Ambos and Norwegian judge Nina H. B. Jørgensen.

All three judges have experience in international criminal justice and have also served in other proceedings before Kosovo’s Specialist Chambers.

Michèle Picard is a judge at the Paris Court of Appeal. She previously served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and has also worked in the field of human rights in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and other countries.

At the Specialist Chambers, Picard has been presiding judge of Appeals panels in the Gucati and Haradinaj, Salih Mustafa and Pjetër Shala cases.

Kai Ambos, a German national, is professor of criminal law and international criminal law at the University of Göttingen. He has worked as a defense lawyer and consultant at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and at the International Criminal Court.

Ambos has been a member of Appeals Panels in the Gucati and Haradinaj, Salih Mustafa and Pjetër Shala cases.

Nina Jørgensen is professor of public international law at the University of Southampton. She has experience in several international criminal justice institutions, including the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Jørgensen has also been a member of Appeals Panels in the Gucati and Haradinaj, Salih Mustafa and Pjetër Shala cases.

The appointment of this panel follows the verdict announced on September 16, 2026 against Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi, who were sentenced to a total of 81 years in prison.

Defense teams have announced they will challenge the verdict through the appeals procedure, while the Appeals Panel will review the parties’ submissions and decide on the issues subject to review at this stage.

The Specialist Chambers have clarified that it is still too early to determine how long the appeals procedure will last, as its duration will depend on the complexity of the case.