There have been angry reactions in Kosovo after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Wednesday said the verdict in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi will not be delivered until September 16.

This is the second extension of the deadline to issue a verdict. According to the court’s regulations, a verdict should be announced within 90 days of the closure of a trial. The trial of Thaci, former parliamentary speakers Veseli and Krasniqi and former MP Selimi, ended on February 18, so the verdict was expected by May 19.

However, in early May the judges panel decided the verdict would be announced by July 20.

The decision to extend the deadline again was widely criticised in Kosovo, where many believe the court is biased against what they see as the KLA’s just war.

Bedri Hamza, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, which Thaci and Veseli were part of, said the court was “acting more as a political instrument rather than a court ruled by the principles of justice” by extending the deadline for the verdict.

“Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi continue to be held hostage by this unjust and interminable process. Prolonged pre-trial detention has effectively become an unjust punishment for them; furthermore, the Special Court – having lost our trust and deviated from its mission – is increasingly deepening public dissatisfaction in Kosovo,” Hamza wrote on Facebook.

Thaci, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi, are accused of individual and command responsibility for crimes committed against prisoners held at KLA detention facilities in Kosovo and in neighbouring Albania, including 102 murders. The crimes were allegedly committed during and just after the Kosovo war in 1998 and 1999.

Thaci resigned as Kosovo President in November 2020 to face the charges and together with the other three was sent to the detention centre in The Hague, where they have been ever since. The trial started in April 2023.

All four pleaded not guilty. During the trial, the prosecution attempted to prove that, as members of the KLA General Staff, they were responsible for lower-ranking fighters who committed crimes. The defence argued that the KLA did not have a proper army command structure, so the defendants did not have real authority over lower-ranking KLA fighters.

The KLA War Veterans’ Organisation described the extension of the verdict date as “the latest round of public humiliation” for the four defendants, deeming it “unjust and unacceptable”.

The Veterans’ Organisation said on Facebook that the whole process was only benefiting “Serbia and its allies, with the aim of putting the Liberation War in the dock, while exonerating the genocidal machinery of the fascist Serbian state and shielding it from accountability.

“Our resistance will shift to the streets through protests, without ruling out the possibility of their escalation if our voice continues to be ignored,” it declared.

During the trial, KLA veterans and their supporters have protested in Pristina, Tirana, Skopje, Strasbourg and The Hague, accusing the court of bias.

Liria ka emer (Freedom Has a Name), a movement in support of KLA members facing legal proceedings in The Hague, also condemned the delay. “When a trial drags on for years and the announcement of the verdict is repeatedly postponed, serious questions arise regarding efficiency and public trust in the justice system. Justice is measured not only by the final ruling but also by the timeframe in which it is reached,” the movement wrote on Facebook.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers was created specifically to try former members of the KLA; it is located in The Hague and staffed by international judges and prosecutors due to doubts about the Kosovo justice system’s own ability to try former KLA fighters, many of whom are considered heroes in Kosovo.

In 2024, Thaci was also charged with obstruction of justice, alongside four co-accused, including former Kosovo justice minister Hajredin Kuci. The trial in this case started in February, days after proceedings in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial ended. Thaci and his four-co-accused in this case – Kuci, Isni Kilaj, Bashkim Smakaj and Fadil Fazliu – have denied wrongdoing.