War crimes court upholds the conviction of a former Kosovo Liberation Army commander

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at a special Kosovo court upheld Thursday the convictions of a former commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army for arbitrarily detaining and torturing prisoners and murdering one of them during Kosovo’s war for independence, but reduced his sentence by four years.

The commander, Salih Mustafa, was convicted a year ago and sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment for the crimes committed at a KLA compound in Zllash, Kosovo, in April 1999. He was acquitted of one charge of mistreating detainees who were perceived as supporters of Serbia.

While dismissing all Mustafa’s appeals against his convictions, the appeals chamber at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers cut his sentence to 22 years of imprisonment, saying it was higher than international and domestic sentencing standards in comparable cases.

Presiding Judge Michèle Picard called the ruling — the first appeals judgment in a war crimes case at the court — an important milestone and a “significant step towards providing justice to victims and ensuring accountability.”

Picard stressed that the reduction in Mustafa’s sentence “in no way suggests that the crimes for which he has been convicted and sentenced are not grave.”

Mustafa showed no emotion as Picard read out the appeal judgment.

Mustafa was the first person convicted of war crimes by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a branch of Kosovo’s court system that was established in the Netherlands to investigate crimes from the conflict.

The prosecutor linked to the court, Kimberly West, welcomed the appeals verdict and paid tribute to witnesses who testified at trial.

She said that, despite the cut in sentence, the judgment “represents a victory for justice and, in particular, for the victims of Salih Mustafa and their families.”

Since Mustafa’s conviction, the court also has opened the trial of former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci and three co-defendants on charges including murder and torture. They insist they are innocent.

Most of the 13,000 people who died in the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo were ethnic Albanians. A 78-day campaign of NATO air strikes against Serbian forces ended the fighting. About 1 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars were driven from their homes.

The court in The Hague and a linked prosecutor’s office were created after a 2011 report by the Council of Europe, a human rights body, that included allegations that KLA fighters trafficked human organs taken from prisoners and killed Serbs and fellow ethnic Albanians. The organ harvesting allegations have not been included in indictments issued by the court.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, a move that Belgrade and its key allies Russia and China refuse to recognize.

Mike Corder, The Associated Press