Luka Misetic, lawyer for former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, has sharply criticized the efficiency of the Court of Appeals operating within the Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
Through a post on the X platform, Misetic wrote that during the five and a half years Thaçi has been held in detention, all appeals submitted by the defense have been rejected.
According to him, the balance of appeals in Thaçi’s case stands at “0 to 40” in favor of the Specialist Chambers.
“For the sake of completeness regarding the effectiveness of appeals in the war crimes trial against Hashim Thaçi: The Defense in this trial has now filed (and completed) 40 interlocutory appeals. The Appeals Panel has so far rejected all of them. That means 0 out of 40 over five and a half years,” he wrote.
Officially, the trial against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi began on April 3, 2023, while the verdict is expected to be announced on July 20, 2026.
Meanwhile, the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office has requested 45-year prison sentences for each of the accused, a request strongly opposed by their defense teams.
