James Rubin, who during the Kosovo war served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, is expected to begin his testimony today in defense of former President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi. The hearing at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, will begin at 9:00 a.m., while the public broadcast will air with a 45-minute delay on the court’s official website.

Media representatives and other registered participants will be able to follow the trial from the gallery of the Specialist Chambers, an area where no electronic devices are permitted.

This marks Thaçi’s first defense witness, with the defense planning to present around 11 witnesses in total. The trial will then proceed with witnesses summoned by the defense of former Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Jakup Krasniqi.

Alongside Thaçi and Krasniqi, former Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli and former MP Rexhep Selimi are also on trial. Their lawyers do not intend to present defense witnesses. The Office of the Specialist Prosecutor charges them with alleged war crimes, claiming they were part of a “joint criminal enterprise.”

The presentation of the defense’s evidence comes four months after the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office concluded its case, having brought 125 witnesses to court and relying on more than 130 written testimonies.

The defense of the four former KLA leaders denies the charges and has argued that the KLA did not have a structured chain of command.

The indictment against the former KLA leaders was made public in the fall of 2020. Since then, they have been held in pre-trial detention at the Scheveningen facility in The Hague. Their trial began in April 2023.

The judges at the Specialist Chambers expect the defense of the former KLA leaders to submit their final written submissions by December 22 of this year.