Kosovo Ex-Guerrillas Remanded Over War Crimes

The appeals court in Pristina late Friday ordered that former Kosovo Security Forces commander Sylejman Selimi, the mayor of Skenderaj/Srbice, Sami Lushtaku, and five other suspects be held on remand while under investigation for allegedly mistreating prisoners at the Likovc/Likovac detention centre during the 1998-99 conflict. “The main reason for ordering detention on remand was the danger of obstructing the criminal proceedings by influencing witnesses. The Court of Appeals came to the conclusion that considering the specific circumstances, only detention on remand could sufficiently guard against the risks of manipulation with evidence,” the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX said in a statement on Saturday. However, BIRN has learned that these allegations were denied by Selimi as far back as 2003. Selimi, who is Pristina’s current ambassador to Tirana, gave an interview to investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, when he was acting as deputy commander of the Kosovo security forces, giving details on the structure and chain of command of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA. BIRN has found a transcript of the 2003 interview, in which Selimi said that the KLA established a small hospital in Likovc/Likovac in 1998, but denied prisoners were ever held or interrogated there. “I took a building in Likovc where I stayed and where I had my staff,” Selimi told the ICTY investigators. “I also formed a special unit named the ‘Black Tigers’,” he continued, adding that Jahir Demaku, one of the other suspects in the current war crimes investigation, was one of the unit’s members during the war. He insisted that the Likovc/Likovac base was used by the KLA’s military police “for maintaining discipline amongst KLA fighters”, denying that it was used for holding prisoners. “We had no [place] to do this [at the base],” he said. Bajram Krasniqi, Selimi’s lawyer at the time, who was present during the interview, has confirmed the authenticity of the document. The case against the seven ex-KLA men sparked an angry reaction in Pristina where a mass protest was staged last week. Protesters called for the ex-guerrillas’ release and urged the authorities to put an end to EULEX’s mandate in Kosovo. Once an indictment is raised, the case will be the third high-profile war crimes case launched by EULEX since its mission in Kosovo began in 2008. Three ex-KLA commanders, Latif Gashi, Rrustem Mustafa and Nazif Mehmeti - the so-called ‘Llapi Group’ - are currently on trial for allegedly abusing civilians in the Llapashtica/Lapastica prison. Former KLA commander and transport minister, Fatmir Limaj, and nine other defendants are also on trial for allegedly abusing Serb and Albanian civilians and Serb prisoners of war at the Klecka detention centre. In a separate case, Lushtaku, the mayor of Skenderaj/Srbica, is one of six defendants accused of waging a hate campaign against BIRN Kosovo director Jeta Xharra.