Court for KLA crimes in The Hague (YouTube screenshot)
The appeals chamber of The Hague court for Kosovo Liberation Army crimes sentenced on Dec. 14 former KLA commander Salih Mustafa to 22 years in prison for war crimes against Albanians in Kosovo. The sentence is binding.
The ruling lowers by four years the initial sentence of 26 years which the court brought in December 2022. The appeals chamber accepted Mustafa's appeal to the number of years in prison that he was sentenced to but ruled Mustafa guilty of arbitrarily holding captive, torturing and murdering Albanians believed by the KLA to be "collaborators," in the village of Zlas near Pristina in April 1999.
The initial ruling which orders that Mustafa pay EUR207,000 in damages to his victims remains. Mustafa (51) and his KLA subordinates released after torture five captive Albanians in mid-April 1999, while one prisoner, who was left in Zlas ahead of an offensive by Serbian forces. died as a result of being beaten and tortured.
The appeals chamber stressed that the sentencing of Mustafa posed "a considerable step in serving justice and establishing responsibility." The lowering of the sentence "does not mean that the crimes that he has been found guilty of are not severe."
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