One of commanders of so-called KLA Salih Mustafa rejects guilt: Refers to Prosecution as "Gestapo"

Photo: Profimedia/AFP/Sem van der Wal

The trial continued before the Chambers, known as "the special court" with the reading of the indictment raised against Salih Mustafa.

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According to the prosecutor, Mustafa is charged with individual criminal responsibility and criminal responsibility as a superior officer for the crimes committed April 1-19, 1999 by certain members of the KLA paramilitary formation against persons detained on a property in the village of Zlas, that served as a prison.

This is the first trial of a former member of the so-called KLA before this court, while for the other three cases - against Hashim Thaci, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, and Pjeter Shala are still being prepared.

The main counts of the indictment were read by the Chief Specialized Prosecutor Jack Smith, and at the end of his presentation, he asked that the defendant be found guilty of all the counts alleged in the indictment.

"I am not guilty on the charges raised by this here Gestapo," said the accused, who showed up in a t-shirt and a hooded tracksuit, an unusual way to dress for court.

Mustafa has been detained in The Hague since September 2020, while in his first appearance before the court in October that year he denied responsibility on all counts of the indictment raised by the Kosovo Specialized Prosecution, and announced that, among other methods, he would use alibi as his defense.

Victims' representatives will make their introductory remarks after a break.

Indictment: Detainees tortured, exposed to electric shocks, their skin burned

Mustafa is charged with individual responsibility on four counts of war crimes: arbitrary deprivation of freedom, cruel treatment, torture and killing of civilians - at least six people. These horrific crimes took place in Zlas, Kosovo, a place that served as a KLA prison from April 1 until April 19, 1999. What stands out is that the victims in this case were Albanians disloyal to the KLA.

The indictment against Mustafa states that the detainees did not have enough food and water, adequate sanitary, hygienic, sleeping conditions, accommodation and health care, and that they were exposed to "beatings, skin burning and electric shocks."

According to the indictment, they were also tortured psychologically, including by being threatened with "death and grievous bodily harm, exposed to fear, humiliation, discrimination on political grounds, intimidation, harassment, interrogation and forcible extraction of statements and confessions."

(Telegraf.rs)