Former Kosovo rebel commander sentenced to 18 years in prison for war crimes – Euractiv

July 17, 2024

A former Kosovo rebel commander was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday (July 16) for abuses and murder in 1999 during Pristina’s struggle for independence.

Pjeter Shala, 60, also known as “Commander Wolf,” was a local military leader in western Kosovo during the small country’s independence conflict in 1998 and 1999, when separatist KLA rebels fought forces loyal to then-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, the court said.

“After examining all the evidence, the panel finds you, Mr Pjeter Shala, guilty of war crimes,” Judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia told the Kosovo Special Chambers in The Hague, adding that he had been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Drama erupted in the courtroom when Shala – dressed in a black suit, white shirt and purple tie – began speaking loudly to the judges during the verdict and had to be silenced by the judge.

After a brief conversation with his defense attorneys, he finally calmed down.

It was initially unclear whether Shala’s lawyers would appeal. However, they have 30 days to do so. He pleaded not guilty.

Shala was charged with four war crimes: torture, arbitrary detention and cruel treatment of at least 18 civilian detainees accused of working as spies or collaborating with opposing Serbian forces in mid-1999. He was also accused of murder.

However, the judges acquitted him of the charge of cruelty and convicted him of the other three charges.

The judges said Shala was part of a group of KLA soldiers who severely mistreated prisoners at a metal factory that then served as the KLA headquarters in Kukes, northeastern Albania.

There, the KLA members held other Kosovo Albanians captive, whom they accused of “helping” the enemy Serbian forces – or of “not showing enough sympathy” for the KLA’s cause.

The prisoners were beaten daily with batons or baseball bats and “lived in constant fear, feeling they could be physically abused or killed at any time,” the judge said.

“Mr. Shala was the first to beat the prisoners,” Veldt-Foglia said. “Witnesses specifically recalled his brutality.”

“Terrible torture”

One prisoner was shot in the leg and KLA members, including Shala, denied him medical attention.

“He died the next day in terrible agony,” the judge said.

The four-judge trial judges made their verdict based on “credible, consistent … evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Shala’s trial took place before the Kosovo Special Chambers, a court in The Hague that primarily prosecutes former KLA fighters for war crimes.

The court was established after a 2011 Council of Europe report identified KLA fighters as suspected of involvement in crimes.

The report also said there was evidence that KLA guerrillas were part of an organ harvesting and trafficking network operating in Albania. However, an EU task force later said there was no evidence to support these claims.

Since its establishment in 2017, the court has investigated several former KLA commanders for possible war crimes.

Among them is the former political commander of the KLA, Hashim Thaci, who dominated Kosovo’s politics after it declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 and rose to become the small country’s president.

Thaci resigned in 2020 to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His lawyers have vehemently denied any allegations of organ trafficking and Thaci has pleaded not guilty.

The Kosovo Tribunal handed down its first verdict in December 2022: a 26-year prison sentence for former rebel commander Salih Mustafa, who ran a torture center.

This sentence was later reduced to 22 penalties on appeal.

Faton Klinaku, acting chairman of the Kosovo Liberation Army war veterans organization, accused the court of pursuing a “political approach.”

“Just like the previous verdicts” against KLA fighters, he posted on Facebook.