{"id":218203,"date":"2026-09-10T18:04:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=218203"},"modified":"2026-09-10T18:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:04:34","slug":"prosecution-seeks-six-year-sentence-for-thaci-hague-prosecutors-seek-six-years-for-obstruction-of-justice-and-witness-interference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/prosecution-seeks-six-year-sentence-for-thaci-hague-prosecutors-seek-six-years-for-obstruction-of-justice-and-witness-interference\/","title":{"rendered":"PROSECUTION SEEKS SIX-YEAR SENTENCE FOR THA\u00c7I: Hague prosecutors seek six years for obstruction of justice and witness interference!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Prosecutors in<\/em><\/strong> The Hague<\/a><\/em><\/strong> today asked for former KLA leader Hashim Tha\u00e7i to be sentenced to six years in prison for disclosing protected witnesses and unlawfully influencing them in an attempt to avoid conviction for war crimes in a separate trial.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the prosecutors, Tha\u00e7i, who has been in pre-trial detention since the fall of 2020, should serve that sentence only after serving the sentence he could be handed down next Wednesday, September 16, for war crimes committed in Kosovo<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and Albania in 1998-99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indictment accuses Tha\u00e7i (58) of revealing the identities of six protected witnesses from the main trial, in which he is charged with war crimes, to his associates who visited him in detention in The Hague in the summer and autumn of 2023, and of instructing the witnesses through those visitors on how to testify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For co-defendants Fadilj Fazljiu, Isni Kiljaj and Ba\u0161kim Smakaj, prosecutors today requested sentences of three years in prison each, while they requested nine months in prison for Hajredin Ku\u00e7i.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the prosecutors, they visited Tha\u00e7i in detention and then conveyed his instructions to witnesses on how to testify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the prosecutors, Tha\u00e7i sought to “save himself from conviction” at his trial for war crimes in Kosovo and Albania in 1998-99 by unlawfully influencing witnesses. That trial ended in February, and the court will deliver its verdict on Wednesday, September 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors previously requested that Tha\u00e7i and co-defendants Kadri Veselji, Red\u017eep Seljimi and Jakup Krasni\u0107i be sentenced to 45 years in prison each in that case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today’s closing arguments at the trial in which Tha\u00e7i is charged with contempt and obstruction of the Hague court, Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West stressed that Tha\u00e7i, “faced with the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence, attempted to obstruct the proceedings by influencing witnesses” and that he was “caught with an abundance of evidence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, prosecutors played recordings of conversations in which Tha\u00e7i revealed protected witnesses to his co-defendants and gave instructions on how they should testify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Faced with war crimes charges, Tha\u00e7i attempted, through his co-defendants, to influence witnesses whom he believed were decisive to the outcome of his case,” West said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those witnesses, according to the prosecutors, were former KLA commanders Rustem Mustafa, known as “Remi”, and Bisljim Zirapi, whom Tha\u00e7i, in violation of court orders, instructed through visitors “to shape their testimony in accordance with Tha\u00e7i’s narrative.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He gave instructions on what the witnesses should or should not say in an attempt to reduce his culpability” for war crimes,” the prosecutor stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim was to “soften the picture that the KLA was an organized army and that Tha\u00e7i had a command role” and to deny his presence at the crime scenes listed in the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tha\u00e7i also sent a message to one witness to change a statement he had previously given to Hague prosecutors, in which he had identified Tha\u00e7i as being present while he was being abused by the KLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the prosecutors, Tha\u00e7i told one of the witnesses through a visitor to return to Kosovo “as a hero, not as a traitor” and that this was “for his own good.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tha\u00e7i also printed witnesses’ statements while in detention and then handed them to his co-defendants with corrections entered in his defense’s favor, which the witnesses were supposed to accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors later found those statements with Kiljaj and Smakaj during searches in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closing arguments of the prosecution and defense will continue tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial began in late February, and by the beginning of March, prosecutors had called three witnesses before the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judge Christopher Gosnell also heard testimony from one defense witness for Tha\u00e7i, while he accepted the statement of another Tha\u00e7i defense witness in written form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence was presented only by the defense of fourth defendant Kiljaj, which submitted written statements from four witnesses concerning the defendant’s character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawyers for Fazljiu, Smakaj and Ku\u00e7i decided not to present defense evidence, convinced that the prosecutors had failed to prove their guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defendants Kiljaj, Fazljiu, Smakaj and Ku\u00e7i are following the closing arguments via video link from Kosovo, as the court released them on temporary release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First defendant Tha\u00e7i is in the courtroom. He has been in pre-trial detention in Scheveningen since November 2020, when he was arrested in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tha\u00e7i faces three counts of obstructing officials in the performance of their duties, four counts of violating the confidentiality of proceedings, and another four counts of contempt of court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smakaj, Kiljaj and Fazljiu are charged on two counts with attempting to obstruct an official and with contempt of court, while Ku\u00e7i faces two counts of contempt of court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the indictment, despite a court ban, Tha\u00e7i disclosed confidential information about witnesses, including their identities, to Fazljiu, Smakaj, Kiljaj and Ku\u00e7i, who then had unauthorized contact with the witnesses and attempted to influence them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those witnesses, according to the prosecutors, were former KLA commanders Rustem Mustafa, known as “Remi”, and Bisljim Zirapi. Both testified at the main trial of Tha\u00e7i and his co-defendants for war crimes at the prosecution’s request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indictment states that on July 2, 2023, Fazljiu visited Tha\u00e7i in detention in The Hague and that Tha\u00e7i then conveyed confidential information about prosecution witnesses to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tha\u00e7i then asked Fazljiu to convey instructions to Rustem Mustafa, “Remi”, about how he should testify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They “agreed that Fahri Fazljiu, the son of Fadilj Fazljiu, would meet with witness Mustafa.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day after the visit to Tha\u00e7i, on July 3, 2023, Fahri Fazljiu, according to the indictment, “exchanged messages with Mustafa and suggested that the two of them and Fadilj Fazljiu meet later that day, in accordance with the instructions Fadilj Fazljiu had received from Hashim Tha\u00e7i.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the indictment, father and son Fazljiu had previously met with Mustafa, before the visit to Tha\u00e7i, on June 29, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 3, 2023, Tha\u00e7i disclosed the identities of three protected prosecution witnesses, identified in the indictment as Witnesses 2, 5 and 6, to Hajredin Ku\u00e7i, who visited him in detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tha\u00e7i gave him detailed instructions on how the witnesses should testify…. and he (Ku\u00e7i) was supposed to convey those instructions to the named witnesses,” the indictment states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the indictment, Ku\u00e7i agreed with Tha\u00e7i’s instructions, “and he himself also made suggestions about what instructions should be given to Witness 5 and Witness 6.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Ku\u00e7i confirmed that before visiting Tha\u00e7i he had “met at least once with Witness 5 and discussed his testimony.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six days later, on September 9, 2023, Ba\u0161kim Smakaj, Bljerim \u0160alja, Artan Behrami and others visited Tha\u00e7i.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“During that visit, Tha\u00e7i conveyed confidential information about prosecution witnesses to them… and on that occasion repeatedly instructed one or more of his visitors to give witness Bisljim Zirapi instructions on how to testify,” the indictment states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tha\u00e7i “characterized Zirapi’s testimony as crucial and issued detailed instructions on what he should say during his testimony.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the indictment, Tha\u00e7i gave further instructions regarding Zirapi’s testimony to Smakaj and Behrami on October 7, 2023, when they visited him again in detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tha\u00e7i then handed Smakaj a printed “10-page narrative” about how Zirapi should testify, and that he should do so “briefly, without giving opinions” and with phrases such as “I don’t know, I don’t remember.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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