Fugitive Drenica Group members brought before court

According to a statement by the Kosovo police, they were arrested by order of a judge of the Basic Court of Pristina Thursday night and were brought to court under tight security measures. The former commander of the KLA’s Drenica operational zone and current President of the Srbica municipality Sami Ljustaku and Drenica Group members Ismet Hadza and Sahit Jasari disappeared from the University Clinic Center of Kosovo (UCCK) in Pristina, where they had been staying for the last few months, on May 19.According to their lawyer, they did not agree with an order issued by a trial chamber chaired by a EULEX judge to transfer them to a detention unit in north Mitrovica for the duration of the trial.Pristina-based daily Koha Ditore said that Ljustaku, Hadza and Jasari surrendered themselves to the police Thursday night and during the negotiations on the terms of surrender, which lasted three days, it was not clear whether they were in the hospital, as neither the police nor their doctors were allowed by their supporters to enter the hospital rooms of the three men.Mergim Ljustaku, son of Sami, one of the defendants, said that the accused gave themselves in after their request for the trial not to be held in the Serb-majority north Mitrovica was granted.The indictment was, however, read to the defendants before the trial chamber at the Basic Court of north Mitrovica, and they pleaded not guilty to the criminal offenses they are charged with.Four of the seven defendants, including Sulejman Selimi, known as Sultan, who is a former KLA commander and current Ambassador of Kosovo to Albania, appeared for the first hearing of the main trial on Thursday and he also pleaded not guilty.Seven of the 15 members of the Drenica Group who stand accused of war crimes have been in detention since May 31 last year.All are charged with the criminal offense of war crimes against the civilian population, including torture and abuse of prisoners in a KLA camp in the village of Likovac in the Drenica region in 1998, and the murder of Ivan Bulatovic, a young Serb policeman.