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Kosovo court retries parliamentary deputy on war crimes charges

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Kosovo's District Court of Prishtina on Wednesday began trial of three former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members accused of committing war crimes during the 1998-1999 Balkan ethnic conflicts. Former KLA commander and current parliamentary deputy Rrustem Mustafa along with two KLA soldiers, Latif Gashi and Nazif Mehmeti, are accused of torturing five ethnic Albanians detained near the town of Podujevo. Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, also a former KLA member, commented that the government is confident that the men will be acquitted. In 2003, the three were convicted of murder based on the same events, but the ruling was overturned by the Kosovo Supreme Court in 2005. The new trial involves a mixed team made up of local and European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) authorities. EULEX reached its first guilty verdict in March, after formally beginning operations last December. Also in March, the trial of two Serbian defendants was blocked by hundreds of Serbian protesters and has been postponed indefinitely. Kosovo officially declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, and its new constitution went into effect that June. Kosovo's status as an independent nation has been recognized by over 60 countries, but Serbia has officially condemned the declaration as illegal, citing UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999). China and Russia, both members of the UN Security Council, support Serbia's position on Kosovo.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on July 09, 2009 (boomark / email).