John Duncan, a witness at The Hague, stated on Monday that the violence following the end of the Kosovo war was not orchestrated by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), emphasizing that Hashim Thaçi had publicly called for calm.
Independent and Opportunistic Violence
“In an independent sense, no. From what we understood, it was not orchestrated violence,” Duncan testified.
He further explained:
“What we wanted was for Thaçi to issue calls for restraint to the Kosovars. As I described, it was about revenge attacks and opportunistic-criminal acts. Like any politician, he could call for calm, but he was not in a position to enforce it, because it was not organized by the KLA.”
Thaçi’s Role
Duncan noted that Thaçi did issue calls for calm, which was exactly what international officials had asked of him at that time.
His testimony came in response to a question from lawyer Nina Tavakoli, who asked whether the violence in 1999 could have been stopped by Thaçi.
Continuation of Proceedings
With Duncan’s statement, the defense questioning for Hashim Thaçi concluded. The trial then moved on to the defense of Kadri Veseli, represented by lawyer Rodney Dixon, according to the monitoring group Betimi për Drejtësi.
