Kosovo Ex-Guerrilla Limaj Back Under House Arrest

“The decision [to re-impose house arrest] was taken on Friday after the prosecution appealed the previous decision [to release the defendants] at the court of appeals,” Blerim Krasniqi, spokesperson for the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, told BIRN. “The decision will be valid for the upcoming two months,” he added. Judges on June 6 had released Limaj and the nine other defendants from house arrest, apparently accepting defence assurances there was no danger of them fleeing Kosovo. The EULEX prosecution however argued that Limaj and the nine other defendants in the high-profile case might abscond or interfere with witnesses. Limaj’s defence said it would appeal against the new ruling to reimpose the detention measures. “This decision was taken in order to hinder the influence of witnesses called by the defence, which is legally illogical,” said Tome Gashi, one of Limaj’s lawyers. Limaj, who is now a lawmaker with Kosovo’s ruling party, and the nine other defendants, also former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters, are on trial for war crimes for allegedly beating and torturing Albanian civilians and Serb prisoners at the Klecka detention centre during wartime. According to the indictment, they “violated the bodily integrity and health of an unspecified number of Serb and Albanian civilians and Serb prisoners of war”. Albanian civilians suspected of collaboration with the Serbian regime, Serbian civilians and Serbian police and military personnel were allegedly detained at Klecka, which according to the indictment also served as a detention centre for KLA soldiers investigated or sentenced for disciplinary offences. All the defendants in the Klecka case were also tried and acquitted last year but the prosecution successfully appealed against the verdict and the case was sent for a retrial. At a previous trial at the Hague Tribunal in 2005, Limaj was also acquitted of war crimes against Serbs and Albanians suspected of collaborating with Serbia during the Kosovo war and returned home to a hero’s welcome.