First War Crimes Trial in Kosovo Begins in Mid-September

A special court in The Hague announced that it will begin the trial of a former commander of Albanian insurgents accused of war crimes in Kosovo in mid-September. Salih Mustafa, the former leader of the "Kosovo Liberation Army," is the first to be tried before the court, which previously charged Hashim Thaci, the President of Kosovo from 2016 to 2020. Mustafa is accused of the arbitrary detention of at least six civilians, subjecting them to brutal treatment and torture in a detention center in April 1999 in Zlash, Kosovo, as well as killing a prisoner. Mustafa was active as a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army during the war in the northern region. He subsequently headed the intelligence service of the "Kosovo Security Force," a lightly armed force that emerged from the Kosovo Liberation Army after its disarmament. The court stated that Mustafa's trial will start on September 15, with an address from the prosecutor and the victims' attorney. Witness testimonies will commence on September 20. The former President of Kosovo and the former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaci, who resigned on November 5, 2020, along with three other suspects, faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed between 1998 and 1999, according to the indictment. However, their trial date has not yet been set. The conflict (1998-1999) resulted in 13,000 deaths among independence-supporting insurgents against Serbian forces in Kosovo, which was a province of Serbia. The special court for Kosovo operates under Kosovo law and consists of international judges. It is tasked with investigating crimes committed by the "Kosovo Liberation Army" during and after the conflict, particularly against Serbs, Roma, and Kosovar opponents of the armed uprising. This special court was established in 2015 in the Netherlands to protect witnesses subjected to pressure and threats.