Luka Misetic, the lawyer representing Hashim Thaçi, has announced that the defence will appeal the Trial Panel’s judgment, arguing that it contains significant legal, factual and procedural errors.
Misetic said the defence had repeatedly raised concerns throughout the trial about procedural fairness, particularly regarding the direct intervention of Trial Panel members through questions posed to witnesses and the parties.
According to Misetic, these interventions created an appearance of a lack of impartiality.
“The defence maintains that the judicial interventions went beyond the limits of neutral truth-seeking, undermining the appearance of impartiality required under international standards of justice. This lack of impartiality now runs through the Trial Panel’s judgment as well,” Misetic said.
He also raised concerns regarding Thaçi’s alleged involvement in the killing of Behajdin Allaqi. According to Misetic, the Trial Panel publicly referred to the case even though it had previously ordered the parties not to discuss it during public hearings and had ruled that the relevant evidence remain confidential.
“The Trial Panel publicly declared Mr. Thaçi guilty of a murder, while the evidence on which that conclusion was based was kept hidden from public scrutiny,” Misetic said.
Misetic argued that the Trial Panel’s findings that Thaçi was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt were based on insufficient and uncorroborated evidence.
He stressed that Thaçi denies any involvement in the killing of Allaqi and said the former president would welcome a public examination of the evidence underlying the finding against him.
“The defence will appeal the Trial Panel’s decisions for violations of his fundamental rights to a fair trial, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution of Kosovo,” Misetic added.
According to Misetic, the formal notice of appeal will be submitted to the Appeals Panel, with the defence seeking to challenge what it considers factual, legal and procedural errors in the judgment.
