Hashim Thaci's and Kadri Veseli's detention in The Hague extended

Photo: Profimedia/Abaca Press, Tanjug/AP/Visar Kryeziu

The Specialist Chambers in The Hague decided to extend the detention of the leaders of the former so-called KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army") Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli because there is a sufficient risk that the two would, if released, obstruct the course of the process and "commit other crimes."

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"The judicial panel determined that these risks can be sufficiently reduced only by applying the communication monitoring framework used in the detention facility of the Specialized Chambers," announced Angela Griep, a spokesperson for the Specialized Chambers in The Hague, according to Pristina-based site Reporteri.

She added that the hearings in this legal procedure will continue on August 28.

Thaci, Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 42 illegal detentions facilities run by the KLA in Kosovo and Metohija and in Albania, against at least 407 victims, of whom at least 98 were killed.

They are accused of unlawfully detaining people, torturing and killing them, and face life imprisonment if found guilty of these crimes.

The indictment states that the crimes they are charged with were committed in the period from March 1998 to September 1999 in a number of locations in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as in northern Albania.

According to the indictment, those acts were committed by members of the so-called KLA against hundreds of civilians and persons who were not active participants in the hostilities.

The indictment states that Thaci, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi bear individual criminal responsibility, according to different forms of criminal responsibility, for criminal acts committed in the context of the non-international armed conflict in Kosovo, which were part of a widespread and systematic attacks on persons suspected of being opposed to the so-called KLA.

(Telegraf.rs)