Former Kosovo Liberation Army member sentenced to 18 years in prison

Former Kosovo Liberation Army member sentenced to 18 years in prison

Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague convicted former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjetër Shala of three war crimes, which include the arbitrary detention and torture of at least 18 individuals at a Metal Factory in Kukës, Albania, as well as the murder of one prisoner. According to presiding Judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia, the victims were predominantly Kosovo Albanians detained on allegations of collaboration with Serbian authorities or refusal to support the KLA, financially, militarily, or politically. The conviction can be appealed.

Context

Shala was one of the persons mentioned in a report by Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty, which claimed that various KLA members committed war crimes. The report included allegations that Shala physically abused Kosovo Albanian prisoners at KLA detention camps in northern Albania.

Marty’s report led to the creation of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.  This court was created to try former KLA fighters for wartime crimes, amid concerns that Kosovo’s domestic legal system was not strong enough to handle politically sensitive cases and protect witnesses from intimidation.

However, many Kosovo Albanians view the so-called ‘Special Court’ as an affront to the KLA’s just cause.

In July 2022, the Parliament of Albania passed a resolution calling for the accusations of Marty’s report to be considered “unsubstantiated, unproven and not based on evidence and facts”, referring to the report’s claims that members of KLA had trafficked from Albania the organs of Serbian nationals. No evidence to support these claims has been presented to the court in The Hague. In May 2023, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stated at a Council of Europe’s summit that “the Assembly of the Council of Europe has a moral obligation to correct every error. In this case, it must withdraw the report that falsely labelled Albania as one of the grounds for organ trafficking by the Kosovo Liberation Army”. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti has repeatedly stated that the international community must focus on justice for victims of Serbian crimes during the war. He has claimed that the Specialist Chambers, deeply resented in Kosovo and seen as an insult to their war heroes, are not transparent and that former KLA members have been detained without a trial date for two years.

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