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Kuçi: I am innocent

2024-12-09 14:42:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kuçi: I am innocent

The former Minister of Justice, Hajredin Kuçi, said on Monday that he feels completely innocent regarding the accusations of obstruction of justice.

Mr. Kuçi appeared on Monday before the Special Court based in The Hague, which deals with allegations of war crimes in Kosovo. The Specialized Prosecutor's Office, which on Thursday raided his house in Pristina, accuses Mr. Kuçi of disobeying the court.

The Office of the Specialized Prosecutor announced on Friday that it has filed charges against the former President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, for criminal offenses of obstruction of justice, and Bashkim Smakaj, Isni Kilaj and Fadil Fazliu are also part of the charge, for attempting to obstruct officials in performance of official duties and disobedience to the court.

The accusation also includes Mr. Kuçi, who on Monday said he is innocent.

"Today is one of the darkest moments for me as a man of justice, who has a profession and a mission all his life, and I am identified with justice", Mr. Kuçi said in his speech. "I have not committed any criminal offense. I am innocent and I have full confidence that I will be acquitted of the charges," he added.

Even the former mayor of Malisheva municipality, Isni Kilaj, said that he feels innocent.

On Sunday, former president Thaçi and Mr. Smakaj did not declare themselves guilty of the charges against them, while Mr. Fazliu said that he feels innocent. According to the indictment "between at least April 12, 2023 and November 2, 2023, during separate visits, Mr. Thaçi provided Mr. Smakaj, Mr. Kilaj, Mr. Fazliu and Mr. Kuçi with reliable information about the prosecutor's office, witnesses, instructed them to influence the testimonies of witnesses and were given details on how to do this".

The indictment claims that Mr. Thaçi "put together three separate groups, formed with the other three accused as well as with Mr. Kuçi, with the aim of influencing the testimonies of the witnesses".

In Friday's announcement of the charges, the Special Prosecutor's office said it "takes obstruction of justice extremely seriously and will continue to investigate and prosecute all those involved in this activity."

On April 3, 2023, in the Special Court, the trial began against the former president of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi and three other former officials of Kosovo, under charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mr. Thaçi, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi, senior leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who were arrested in the fall of 2020, deny the prosecution's claims.

The Special Court was established in 2015 by the parliament of Kosovo and operates based on its laws, but with international personnel. The idea for its establishment followed the investigations of the claims of the envoy of the Council of Europe Dick Marty, whose report presented to the Council of Europe in 2011, contains accusations against former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army for kidnapping, ill-treatment, murder without trial and in some cases forceful removal of human organs and their trafficking from Albania during and after the war in Kosovo.

However, this case was not included in any of the accusations so far, although it was at the root of the idea for establishing the court./ Voa