FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Around 6,000 protesters from all over Albania are expected to participate today in the protest announced by the Organization of KLA War Veterans (OVL-KLA) in Strasbourg, in front of the General Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The protest will be held at 1:00 PM in support of former KLA leaders who are being tried in The Hague.
Similar protests have been held earlier in Pristina, The Hague and Tirana. Another protest has been announced for North Macedonia.
Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, central figures of the former Kosovo Liberation Army, have been detained at the Special Court in The Hague for 5 years, while the trial against them only began in 2023.
Thaçi was the political leader of the KLA before and during the 1998–1999 war, Veseli headed the intelligence service, Krasniqi was the spokesman, and Selimi was a member of the general staff.
While it all started under allegations of organ trafficking, which were never proven, the four were charged with illegal imprisonment, torture, murder, crimes against humanity, enforced disappearance, and persecution of hundreds of civilians and persons who did not participate in the fighting.
Crimes that allegedly occurred between March 1998 and September 1999 in various locations in Kosovo, but also in northern Albania. According to the Specialist Chambers, Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi bear personal criminal responsibility for these crimes, but they have all pleaded not guilty.
Defense lawyers have stated that the KLA would not have gained the support of the international community if there had been a criminal plan, as prosecutors claim. According to them, the indictment is based on a selective misinterpretation of events.
Lini një Përgjigje