Source: B92, RTS Tuesday, July 14, 2020
https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2020&mm=07&dd=14&nav_id=108920
On Monday, the President of the Interim Pristina institutions, Hashim Thaci, was questioned for six hours in the Hague Specialized Prosecutor’s Office.
It remains unknown what questions he answered, as well as the content of the draft indictment, which has not been confirmed, and for that reason Thaci’s departure to The Hague is unclear.
Lawyer Branislav Tapuskovic, a former “friend of the court” at the Hague tribunal, said in a statement for RTS that he agreed with the assessments that we will not find out until October, when the pre-trial judge should decide whether the indictment will be confirmed.
For now, it is only known that Thaci’s indictment charges him with war crimes committed in Kosovo and Metohija, including the murder of 100 people.
“We can’t find out for what crimes he was accused and we won’t find out soon. According to what I heard in the news yesterday and this morning – Hashim Thaci went there and said that yesterday there was a conversation only between his defense attorneys and pre-investigators about technical issues. “This is all for the time being. We will certainly not find out anything about the accusations against him this time,” Tapuskovic said.
He alleges that it was first heard that Thaci was going to The Hague on his own initiative, and that he was going to be summoned by the prosecutor, and then to be summoned from the court.
“However, it was all absolutely illogical, because the indictment did not enter into legal force. He should go next time only in case he is really accused,” Tapuskovic told RTS.
“He is still someone who performs the duty of the President of Kosovo, and I am convinced that everything will be done so that he will have the main say in the next talks concerning the fate of Kosovo,” Tapuskovic states.
When asked how ethical it is for Jeffrey Nice, who was the Hague prosecutor, to now assume the role of Hashim Thaci’s lawyer, Tapuskovic said that it is not unusual for someone who was a prosecutor to one day become a lawyer.
He adds that it was subsequently established that Dick Marty raised the issue of the crimes in the Yellow House and came to the Hague Tribunal to take that evidence and that the evidence was destroyed, however, as Tapuskovic says, that evidence was not destroyed but removed, and if needs be, they will be presented.