Kosovo: the conviction for war crimes of Salih Mustafa badly received in his country

Salih Mustafa before the Special Court for Kosovo, in The Hague, this Friday, December 16, 2022. AFP - PETER DEJONG

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1 min

This is the first verdict of the Special Court for Kosovo, based in the Netherlands in The Hague.

Salih Mustafa, a former commander of the KLA Albanian guerrillas, is sentenced to 26 years in prison for having imprisoned, tortured and caused the death of Albanian Kosovars, considered traitors to the independence cause.

This tribunal is frowned upon in Kosovo.

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With our correspondent in the region,

This first conviction of an Albanian speaker caused a stir in Kosovo.

Quick to react, opposition MP Ganimete Musliu said she was horrified.

She had voted in 2015 against the special court, founded after a report by the Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty which pointed to the war crimes of the Albanian-speaking guerrillas, therefore organ trafficking not demonstrated to date.

Former Prime Minister and war veteran Ramush Haradinaj said he was convinced of Mustafa's innocence.

While the Self-determination party, that of the Prime Minister, denounces an unacceptable sentence and justifies – it is a quote – the fight for freedom, never equal, to the exactions of an occupier.

These unanimous political reactions show, as at the time of the attempts to prevent the creation of the tribunal, to what extent the subject of war crimes committed by Albanian speakers remains taboo in Kosovo society.

The court has yet to try seven suspects, including former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi and former parliament speaker Kadri Veseli, both arrested in 2020.

►Read again: Kosovo: a former rebel commander sentenced to 26 years in prison for war crimes

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• Kosovo

• International justice

• Albania

• Netherlands