Former mayor of Malisheva, Isni Kilaj, has been released by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, after the judge ruled that his detention on charges of obstruction of justice was “neither reasonable nor proportionate.”
Lawyer Taulant Hodaj, on the FIVE show, explained that Kilaj's conditional release is not related to his or her admission of guilt.
He explained that the decision to release Kilaj was made taking into account the time spent in detention and the gravity of the criminal offense.
"In the case of determining pre-trial detention, the gravity of the criminal offense, the manner and extent of the punishment are considered, and it is always in practice that in cases where a significant amount of time is spent in pre-trial detention, exceeding the time provided for by the applicable law, then he usually has to be released or other security measures should be taken. So the pre-trial detention measure is only more severe and the court has rightly assessed that the arguments in favor of conditional release outweigh his detention," he stated.
The conditions that Kilaj must respect, according to him, include not contacting witnesses, not manipulating evidence, not influencing witnesses, and responding to court summons.
Lawyer Hodaj emphasized that there may be other conditions that cannot be made public.
Hodaj also explains that Kilaj's release does not pave the way for others to face war crimes charges.
"Criminal offenses against the administration of justice or war crimes cannot be differentiated, the gravity of the criminal offense and the severity of the punishment are different. If in this case the criminal offense against the crimes of prayer were the minimum punishment 1 2 3, the same would have been applied, but the punishments are high and that is why they have not applied it so far," Hodaj declared.
Kilaj is accused, along with former President Hashim Thaçi, former Justice Minister Hajredin Kuçi, former head of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency Bashkim Smakaj, and Fadil Fazliu, of obstructing justice in the war crimes trial against Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selim.
Source of information @Telegrafi: Read more at:the world today www.botasot.al
