The sixth day of closing statements in the trial of the KLA four at the Special Court ended on Monday with the Prosecution's request that Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi be found guilty.
Prosecutor Matthew Holing said in his closing argument that the court documentation in this case tells the story that the defendants, by doing what they said they would do, have prompted the Prosecution to seek a guilty verdict "and they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
"All court documentation of the case shows that the accused, through the abuse of their position and the structures they led, acted with a common criminal intent," he said.
According to him, they "have maintained and advanced the focus of the KLA's earlier years that their opponents were costing them a lot, in the sense that they were not allowing them control in Kosovo. They have issued statements that have condemned and threatened and pledged to punish their opponents, and in the end these opponents were punished, of course."
Other members of the prosecution attempted to refute the defense's arguments regarding the accused by presenting counterarguments.
For most of the hearing, Jakup Krasniqi's defense argued that the Prosecution wrongly attempted to link Krasniqi's presence at several alleged crime scenes to the commission of the crimes, without providing a single piece of evidence or proof that his presence contributed to the commission of the crimes.
Krasniqi's defense added that the Prosecution's claim that he and other KLA members shared the common goal of taking and exercising control over all of Kosovo, through the commission of crimes, does not hold up when all the evidence is analyzed.
Meanwhile, Hashim Thaçi's lawyer, Lluka Mishetić, argued that the Prosecution could not prove that the KLA statement incited people or individuals to commit crimes in Kosovo.
Misetic said: "We are saying that they have to prove something, that the statements were translated into effect, had an impact, at least for some of the crimes mentioned in the indictment. Otherwise we are talking theoretically."
The next session will be held on Wednesday morning.
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Prosecutor Holding: The General Staff conveyed the common criminal intent
Prosecutor Matthew Holing said he rejects Hashim Thaçi's defense arguments that the Prosecution has no evidence of any order or direct communication from the KLA General Staff that would have conveyed the alleged common criminal intent.
He added that the evidence contains a discussion regarding the "mass execution of detainees."
"The killers who shot them said, and I quote: 'We have orders from the General Staff to remove the prisoners.' After that, they took them to the place of execution," Holing said.
"This is the General Staff where all the accused were part of at the time. This was a direct order from the General Staff that conveyed the criminal intent for which they are accused. This evidence cannot be eliminated," he added.
Holing said that the defense's criticism that the prosecution is relying on only incriminating, not exculpatory, evidence is unfounded.
"In our file you will find detailed explanations of why the witnesses are credible. The exculpatory evidence was never refuted because it was so, therefore some claims that were made earlier were modified or we no longer considered them as valid."
Prosecutor Pache: Thaçi's defense failed to justify the detention of two Serbian journalists and the parliamentary delegation
Prosecutor James Pache argued that Thaçi's defense made "failed" attempts to legitimize the detention of two Serbian journalists and a delegation from the Democratic League of Kosovo in 1998.
“The submissions of Thaçi's defense to legalize the detention of the [Democratic League] parliamentary delegation in Qirez in 1998 are also unsuccessful,” Pache said.
"During the arguments, Thaçi's defense claimed that the KLA had military reasons to detain and question members of the delegation in Qirez. A witness said that someone had come to Qirez to demand the disarmament of the KLA."
Pacho added that, even if there were demands for disarmament, this could not reach the necessary threshold for detention.
"The proposition that armed groups can detain any civilian who seeks peaceful opposition rather than armed resistance is dangerous and unlawful, and the statement of one member of the delegation cannot justify the arrest of all members. Even if there were legitimate reasons for the initial detention, there was no legal justification for the mistreatment of detainees," he added.
He said that members of the delegation have given evidence that they were beaten and mistreated during detention by the KLA in Qirez.
Prosecutor Tieger: The defense tried to avoid the true role of the defendants
Prosecutor Alan Tieger has begun the Prosecution's submissions, saying that the defendants' defense has attempted to present them as people with good intentions and without power or motives.
Below you can read excerpts from Tieger's arguments:
In one form or another, the defense has presented their clients as well-intentioned people who lacked power and motives.
Veseli's defense described their client as a dedicated member of the KLA at a time of great need, as a young graduate with no military training, who joined thousands of others from diverse backgrounds with the conviction to fight for the freedom of Kosovo and for a future free of brutality and authoritarianism for themselves and their children. This, Your Honor, is not a crime in itself.
Of course, it is not a crime to join a fight for freedom, and the Prosecution has never said that.
But presenting the accused as just a few of thousands of others who joined the KLA to fight for freedom is an attempt to evade their true roles, as founders and key members of the General Staff.
They do not accept these roles because their actions in these roles, using their combined authority and their individual efforts, reflect the common criminal purpose and their commitment to it.
They claimed to have the right to deal mercilessly with all who stood in their way. The crimes that followed are reflected in abundant evidence that cannot be ignored or denied. This is evidenced by the fact that they made great efforts to have this evidence viewed in as isolated a manner as possible. The evidence includes years of what they had declared they had done, were doing, and would do.
Recognizing how incriminating the KLA statements were, defense teams made great efforts to distance their clients from involvement in these statements./Radio Free Europe
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