A former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) on trial for war crimes pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial on Tuesday before an international special court in The Hague, rejecting “fabricated” charges.
Pjeter Shla, 59, also known by the nickname “Commander Wolf”, was according to prosecutors a local military leader active in western Kosovo during Kosovo’s independence guerrilla warfare against Serb forces in the late 1990s.
Arrested in Belgium in March 2021, he is accused of “arbitrary detention” and “cruel treatment” of at least 18 civilian detainees suspected of espionage or collaboration with Serbia, “torture” and “murder”.
“I don’t recognize anything. It’s fabricated,” said the accused, when Judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia asked him if he pleaded guilty or not guilty.
“Totally not guilty,” added Pjeter Shala, who appeared dressed in a black suit, white shirt and purple tie.
According to the prosecution, he was part of a “small group of KLA soldiers” who severely abused detainees at a metal factory used by the rebellion as a headquarters in Kukes, in northeastern Albania. .
“The detainees were victims of serious and repeated violence, torture, and in one case murder,” said Alex Whiting, lead prosecutor in the case.
The defendant “participated in repeated beatings (…) including with iron bars and sharp objects”, he continued.
“The victims were left covered in blood, with broken bones and unable to walk as a result,” Whiting said.
Pjeter Shala and other KLA members are also accused of beating a detainee in June 1999 and shooting him in the leg, “which caused him to bleed to death”, continued the prosecutor.
“A life has been senselessly wasted,” said Simon Laws, a lawyer representing the victims in the case.
Mr Whiting told the judges the intimidation of witnesses in court cases continued, calling it ‘real, serious, pervasive’, and saying it had ‘continued to shape the trial’.
The Special Court for Kosovo, funded by the European Union, is a body under Kosovar law composed of international judges and responsible for investigating crimes committed by the KLA during and after the conflict.
The clashes, from 1998 to 1999, left 13,000 dead and ended when the forces of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic withdrew after a NATO bombing campaign that lasted eleven weeks.
The court has brought charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against several senior KLA officials, including former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci (2016-2020), who resigned after being indicted but is still considered a hero in his country.
In December, the court handed down its first war crimes verdict, sentencing a former rebel commander, Salih Mustafa, who ran a torture center, to 26 years in prison.
In 2021, he sentenced two men to prison terms for witness intimidation.
Mr. Shala’s defense is expected to make its opening statement on Wednesday. The accused will address the judges, his lawyers said.
02/21/2023 14:16:30 – The Hague (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
