Luka Misetic, the lawyer of former President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, has asked the Special Court to declare his client not guilty and to release him immediately, in the final trial brief initially submitted confidentially on January 19, 2026.
Recently, on March 27, Thaçi’s defense submitted the “public redacted version of the final trial brief,” which has also been published by the court.
In the conclusion of this brief, Misetic writes: “The Trial Panel is requested to find THAÇI not guilty on all counts of the Indictment and to order his immediate release.”
Misetic states that “the only just outcome of this trial is the acquittal of THAÇI on all counts of the indictment.”
“However, if the Trial Panel decides to consider sentencing, THAÇI should be granted mitigation,” the document says.
Thaçi’s lawyer argues that “the maximum possible sentence is 15 years.”
“The Kosovo Specialist Chambers are bound by the Constitution. Article 33(2) of the Constitution states: ‘No penalty for a criminal offense shall exceed the penalty provided by law at the time the criminal offense was committed.’ Article 33(4) states: ‘Penalties shall be imposed in accordance with the law in force at the time the criminal offense was committed, unless penalties in a subsequently applicable law are more favorable to the perpetrator.’ It goes without saying that, in the event of any conflict between the Law and the Constitution, the Constitution prevails. Consequently, this Trial Panel must determine the maximum sentence that was provided by law in the years 1998 and 1999,” the final trial brief submitted by Thaçi’s defense states.
Referring to the case of Salih Mustafa, Thaçi’s defense says that the Appeals Panel, which suggested that the Special Court has the right to impose a sentence higher than that provided by domestic law, “is clearly wrong.”
“Nothing in the Law can prevail over any constitutional provision that contradicts it. Simply put, the Assembly of Kosovo did not have the legal authority to adopt the Law, or any other law, that is unconstitutional,” the document states.
Thaçi’s lawyer also says in the final brief that the Special Court “is constitutionally prohibited from imposing a sentence greater than 15 years, even for crimes under customary international law.”
“At a minimum, the Trial Panel is obliged to consider the range of sentences in force at the relevant time and any subsequent more lenient range for the offense provided by Kosovo law when determining the sentence to be imposed on a person convicted of a crime under international law, in accordance with Article 44(2),” the document states. This, according to the defense, includes the Criminal Code of the former Yugoslavia.
“Consequently, the Trial Panel must consider the applicable sentencing range at the time of commission, from 5 to 15 years, which also constitutes the more lenient sentencing range compared to later versions of Kosovo’s Criminal Code. The Trial Panel should also consider Kosovo jurisprudence contemporaneous with the offense or related to the same offense and armed conflict when determining the sentence,” the document further states.
Misetic asks the Trial Panel “to take into account several mitigating factors.” Among others, he emphasizes that “there would be no Kosovo Specialist Chambers, nor the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, if it were not for THAÇI’s efforts.”
The lawyer also mentions Thaçi’s resignation from the position of President of Kosovo on November 5, 2020, and his voluntary surrender to the Special Court.
“Thirdly, even while serving as Head of State, THAÇI gave full interviews to the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office on several occasions, demonstrating further cooperation with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers,” the document states.
“Fourthly, the Trial Panel has heard considerable evidence that THAÇI made numerous statements in favor of peaceful coexistence among peoples and called on Albanians not to seek revenge against their Serbian neighbors in the summer of 1999, for which he received praise from many witnesses in this trial. HILL testified that THAÇI was not the type of person who would commit violence against others, while COVEY testified similarly,” the defense’s final brief continues.
The lawyer also notes that Thaçi “was granted temporary release four times and in each case complied with the Trial Panel’s orders and demonstrated exemplary behavior.”
Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi heard on February 9 at the Special Court in The Hague the request of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office that each of them face a long prison sentence for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Specialist Prosecutor, Kimberly West, at the beginning of the closing statement, requested 45 years of imprisonment for each of the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi, and Krasniqi have been held in detention at the Special Court in The Hague since early November 2020, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office alleges that they either committed or should have been aware of these crimes.
