Posts have been published on Facebook with the caption "Hearings against Thaçi and others from May 11 to 15".
These posts are accompanied by images featuring portraits of former President Hashim Thaçi, former Speakers of Parliament Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veseli, and former MP Rexhep Selimi.
The contents with this caption were published on Friday (May 1) on Facebook by the media pages "KosovaPost.net”And“DTV Media"as well as on the show's website"DPT with Fidan".
What's wrong with this content?
The caption and image imply that the four former KLA leaders will face joint trials on those dates, while in reality it is a hearing related to charges of obstruction of justice, where other figures alongside Thaçi are not part of that trial.
The media pages "DTV Media" and "KosovaPost.net" have over 240 thousand followers and over 80 thousand followers, while the page "DPT me Fidanin" has over 140 thousand followers.
After clicking on the links to the posts in both of these media outlets, it was found that even within the articles, the content has the same title and has the same image with the portraits of former KLA leaders (Thaci, Krasniqi, Veseli and Selimi), who are on trial in The Hague on suspicion of war crimes (see here and here).
While within the news, right from the introduction it is clarified that the hearing dates have been set for the case against Hashim Thaçi and others, regarding charges of offenses against the administration of justice.
In fact, the "DTVmedia.com" article indicates that Hashim Thaçi, Bashkim Smakaj, Fadil Fazliu, Isni Klaj and Hajredin Kuçi are accused in this case.
Hibrid.info checked the website of the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor's Office and confirmed that these names are charged with obstruction of justice (see here).
This means that it can be assessed that the title of the articles does not specify for which case the hearing dates have been set, while the image creates the impression that it is about the process against Thaçi, Krasniqi, Veseli and Selim.
To confirm the report, hibrid.info further checked the website of this justice institution and found the calendar of events for the month of May. From the calendar found, it was confirmed that the report on the scheduling of hearings in this case is correct (see here).
Among the media reports in the Albanian language, there have been some where the headlines and images explain that the case is about the process of crimes against the administration of justice (see here, here and here).
A little context
trial The trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Special Court in The Hague against Thaçi and other former leaders ended on February 18 of this year.
The prosecution had requested that they be found guilty and sentenced to 45 years in prison each, but the defense teams have argued that there is no evidence for the alleged crimes and have requested their release.
From the end of the trial, the judges have three months to make a decision on the case, or to request an extension of the deadline for making a decision.
WHEREAS judgment for obstruction of justice against Thaçi and others (Smakaj, Kilaj, Fazliu and Kuçi) began on February 27 of this year and is still in process.
Analyze:
A piece of content has been published on social media accompanied by an image showing the four former KLA leaders (Thaci, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi), with the caption reporting that the court hearings in The Hague for Thaci and the others have been scheduled for May 11 to 15.
However, verification confirmed that the content is misleading as the title does not specify which trial it is referring to, while the image incorrectly displays portraits of the entire group accused of war crimes.
In fact, the content of the news item clarifies that the specific dates refer to the trial for obstruction of justice, where Hashim Thaçi is accused along with other people (Smakaj, Fazliu, Kilaj and Kuçi), and not the rest of the group shown in the image.
Therefore, based on its work methodology, hibrid.info evaluates this content as "Clickbait".
Reasoning:
“Clickbait” is considered to be informational content whose title is general and does not disclose the location of the event, context and relevance. Such texts and articles aim to attract the attention of the audience with sensational headlines with misleading consequences, which do not accurately clarify the content of the article. “Clickbait” headlines are mainly made to attract readability in the case of media publications and/or to earn from clicks in the case of commercial publications.