Tomë Gashi: We Expect an Acquittal for the Former KLA Leaders — the Specialist Court Must Not Fall Prey to Evidence from Serbia

Just hours before the verdict against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, lawyer Tomë Gashi has said he expects an acquittal for the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

In an interview with Telegrafi, Gashi spoke about the trial in The Hague, the evidence presented during it, the possible verdict scenarios and what, according to him, would happen in case of an acquittal.

“I think that from the evidence we have seen in the few sessions that were open to the public, we have not seen anything that could bring a verdict other than an acquittal,” Gashi declared.

He expressed his concern about how evidence that, according to him, was sent from Serbia, might be assessed.

“My personal fear, but I believe that of a large part of us Albanians, is that the Specialist Court will not fall into the trap of assessing evidence sent from Serbia,” he said.

According to Gashi, a possible guilty verdict would have consequences going beyond the individual fate of the four accused, because Serbia, according to him, would use such a decision politically against Kosovo.

“If eventually there is a guilty verdict, then it is known that Serbia will use this card to harm the new state of Kosovo as much as possible,” he declared.

Gashi also spoke about the Prosecution’s claims regarding the structure and command chain of the KLA.

According to him, one must take into account the fact that the KLA was a volunteer army and that the chain of command cannot be compared to that of a regular army.

Asked what would happen in case of an acquittal, Gashi said that, in his assessment, with the announcement of such a decision detention would also end, while the technical issues of their return to Kosovo would remain.

“The moment the acquittal is announced, with the same decision detention ends and then there are technical matters of organization,” he said.

Gashi expressed the expectation that, in such a scenario, the return to Pristina could be organized within the day.

“Since the verdict will be announced in the morning, within the day flights are arranged and they are brought to Pristina,” he declared.

He said such a return would be awaited with a large celebration in Kosovo.

“We are not saying the verdict should be an acquittal only because we are Albanians, but international law is on our side,” Gashi concluded.

The verdict against the former KLA leaders comes after more than five years of proceedings in The Hague, a process that has received great attention in Kosovo and beyond. /Telegrafi/