The Kosovo Specialized Chambers held the next hearing in the case against former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.
The prosecution requested that the trial against them start in the summer of 2021 and announced that it has a material of over 40 thousand pages, which includes evidence, interviews, witness statements, audio, and video materials, and over 150 witnesses.
But defense attorneys opposed the proposal, saying they did not have enough time to check and verify the evidence or facts gathered. Former President Thaçi's legal representative, David Hooper, said it would take at least 18 months for the trial to begin.
He also opposed the formulation of the indictment confirmed by the Special Court and demanded parole for Thaci.
"It is our intention to apply for his parole. I also suggested it in the previous session and I want to emphasize today that the modalities or ways how this exercise should be performed. […] I have received the edited version of the prosecution's request for an arrest warrant and I must say that there are some strange edits in this documentation", declared David Hooper, lawyer of Hashim Thaçi.
Kadri Veseli's lawyer, Ben Emmerson, also reiterated his opposition to the indictment and demanded the client's parole, saying that the KLA war was to protect the population of Kosovo from genocide and the crimes of the Serbian army.