Thaci Appeal Notice Deadline Set at Nov. 27, Not Dec. 15

The Appeals Panel of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague has set November 27, 2026 as the deadline for the defense and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office to give notice of appeal against the trial judgment on Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi. The decision was issued on September 29, and the same day the composition of the appeals bench was made public.

What did the defense ask for, and what did it get?

The original deadline for notices of appeal was October 16. The defense teams of the four convicted men jointly asked to move it to December 15, citing the length and complexity of the judgment, parallel deadlines in the reparations proceedings, and the fact that the judgment has not yet been translated into Albanian. The panel granted the request in part and approved six additional weeks. It found that extending the deadline to December 15, which would have nearly tripled the period set by the rules, would be disproportionate.

The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office received the same date. It did not oppose the extension and asked that, if it decides to appeal, it have the same deadline as the defense.

The panel accepted that there was a reason for more time. The trial judgment runs to 2,089 pages and is the longest the Specialist Chambers has issued so far. In the proceedings, 273 witnesses were heard, 5,467 exhibits were admitted, and the trial transcript runs to 29,238 pages.

Does the missing Albanian translation change anything?

The defense argued that the four convicted men cannot read the English original of the judgment and that their lawyers are obliged to consult them on every step of the proceedings. The panel concluded that the lack of a translation does not, at this stage, threaten the fairness of the proceedings, because counsel can work from the English version, discuss its contents with the accused and formulate possible grounds of appeal.

Still, the panel did not brush aside the right to a judgment in a language the accused understand. It ordered the Registry to report within ten days on the progress of the translation, including the expected dates of the preliminary and final official Albanian versions.

It also warned that it will apply the formal rules strictly in the appeals process. The parties must state clearly which part of the judgment they challenge and support their arguments with exact paragraphs of the judgment, transcript pages and relevant case law, and submissions that are unclear, contradictory, unsupported or formally defective may be dismissed.

Who will decide the appeals?

The appeals bench consists of judges Michele Picard, Kai Ambos and Nina Jorgensen. They were appointed on September 22 by the President of the Specialist Chambers, Ekaterina Trendafilova, after the defense teams filed a confidential request for an extension of the deadline. The appointment decision was initially confidential and was reclassified as public on September 29. Trendafilova said she took into account the judges’ experience and expertise, as well as their availability.

At this stage the bench rules on the request to extend the deadline and on all party filings related to notice of appeal.

What came before?

The trial judgment was delivered on September 16. Thaci and Krasniqi were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, Veseli to 18 and Selimi to 13 years, for the war crimes of arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder. On six counts of crimes against humanity, the outcome was an acquittal.

On September 29, in a separate decision, the Appeals Panel also determined how the 156 victims from the trial proceedings will take part in the appeals phase, under a regime similar to the one used at trial.