Prosecutor Joshua Hafetz, at the beginning of his speech, showed fragments of conversations recorded in The Hague, during Hashim Thaçi's meetings with his visitors, including some of the accused, where he claimed that he attempted to influence witnesses.
"The SPO will show that Thaçi's instructions had a target: the target was specific witnesses whose testimony, according to Thaçi, constituted a threat," he said, adding that the aim was to avoid this threat, Radio Free Europe reported.
According to him, Thaçi's motive was that he "if found guilty" in the war crimes case, "will be sentenced to a long prison sentence" and therefore, according to the ZPS, he used ways to interfere with justice.
“The evidence will show that as soon as the [war crimes] case began, Thaçi focused on obstructing the testimony of witnesses who could harm his defense. Thaçi had two types of witnesses. The first were KLA insiders, who Thaçi specifically identified, who he thought were crucial in his trial, who should speak about the structure of the KLA and Thaçi’s leadership role. The second type were victim witnesses who could implicate him,” the prosecutor said.
Hafetz claimed that the charges against Fadil Fazliu relate to the instructions he received and conveyed to Rrustem Mustafa - Remi, on how to testify in The Hague during Thaçi's trial.
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Fazliu had visited Thaçi in detention in July 2023. According to the ZPS, upon learning when Thaçi would testify in The Hague, Remi, as a witness for the ZPS, Fazliu's son contacted Remi and then he met with the accused.
"Three days later, Fazliu went and met with Thaçi in The Hague and the visit was recorded," the prosecutor said.
Five days after the ZPS announced the witness for June 26, Fazliu's son contacted Remi to meet Fadil Fazliu in Kosovo. Three days later, Fazliu went to meet Thaçi in The Hague, and the visit was recorded based on a court order.
"During the visit he spoke about Remi's testimony and said that his testimony was decisive and that he would set the precedent for subsequent witnesses who would follow him, saying what Thaçi told him in detail about how Mustafa's testimony should be, what he should say, so that Remi would return to Kosovo 'either as a hero or as a disgraced man'. Thaçi ordered Fazliu to give these instructions to Mustafa before he testified in The Hague," the prosecutor said, adding that Fazliu agreed and even contributed to what Mustafa should say.
Meanwhile, Hajredin Kuçi, he said, spoke with Thaçi about influencing two witnesses and a victim.
On September 3, 2023, in The Hague, Thaçi and Kuçi discussed three witnesses, the Prosecution alleged. Two of them were former KLA members, including Zyrap, and the third was a person who would testify about alleged mistreatment by the KLA, the SPO said.
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Thaçi, the SPO said, instructed how they were to testify. The SPO said there is evidence that supports all counts of the indictment.
During the hearing, the prosecutor said that during the visit to The Hague, Isni Kilaj had received instructions on how Witness 4 should change his testimony.
This witness was a victim, "who had previously implicated Thaçi regarding the mistreatment he had suffered at the hands of KLA members."
Kilaj, the Prosecution said, took notes during the meeting in The Hague.
"Thaci underlined the line and page of the witness's preliminary testimony, exactly what he should have changed," the prosecutor claimed.
During two visits to the detention center in The Hague, Smakaj, the Prosecution said, received instructions from Thaçi on how to influence witnesses.
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One of them was identified as Bislim Zyrapi. The prosecutor said Thaçi provided details on how the former KLA Chief of Staff, Zyrapi – a prosecution witness – would testify.
“[Thaci] gave instructions on how to give evidence, that he had to be concise, not to talk too much,” he said, adding that Thaci had given confidential information about protected witnesses and claiming that he had “made fun of two of them, and one of them was disabled.”/ REL
