Former Thaçi advisor: The prosecution's hours are its darkest hours

The trial of former KLA leaders in The Hague on Monday entered the closing arguments phase, marking one of the most decisive moments of this over five-year trial before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, where Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West's request that Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi be sentenced to 45 years in prison sparked a huge backlash, considering it not only unfair but also scandalous.

Former advisor to former President Hashim Thaçi, Ismail Syla, in an interview with Ekonomia Online, said that the Prosecutor's Office's request could be a warning from the Court that a life sentence could be imposed.

"The prosecution's hours are its darkest hours, a warning from this court that there may be drastic sentences, even life imprisonment. This has been said since its beginnings when Trendafilova came to Pristina every time she came. One of the reasons why those people cannot defend her, cannot remain under house arrest, was this reason, that they could face life imprisonment. And this is entirely in the logic of her scenario. Because her scenario, and which is being reflected, is actually theoretically constructed in such a way that you get the idea that there really was a joint criminal enterprise so perfect that this is a complete reality for them. But in reality, there is a big defect. Because an indictment can be built on such a theory, on such a, how should I say, constructs that seem legally stable to you, but in fact real substance, that enters, that has "given or produced this category, this high category of KLA people, does not match, that is, the basic work. That is, the act committed, the ordering, the execution, the evidence that these people are directly involved in the crimes for which they are being accused today, is so inconsistent with the prosecutors' theory, that it is truly a paradox of a model of justice which is trying to become in some way a bad paradigm of the alleged whitewashing of justice," he said.

He stated that the entire process was built on dubious sources and added that, according to him, such cases might not be considered in other international courts.