Kosovo Liberation Army

The failure of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to act related to the crimes committed by Kosovo Albanian leaders, has led Pristina government to believe they are "completely innocent," said Gennady Kuzmin, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of Russia to the United Nations.

The pre-trial judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Nicolas Guillou, decided on Thursday that Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli should remain in detention ahead of their trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo.

Kosovo police used pepper spray against ex-fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA who tried to enter parliament on Monday during a protest to demand that war veterans be included in draft legislation that will guarantee a minimum wage.

The end of 2017 was also the end of Malcolm Simmons' career as an international judge in the Balkans.

The Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor's Office has added fresh war crime charges to the indictment of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other guerilla Kosovo Liberation Army leaders turned politicians who have been awaiting the trial in detention in The Hague since November 2020.

Dick Marty, the author of an infamous report in 2010 entitled 'Inhuman Treatment of People and Illicit Trafficking in Human Organs in Kosovo', has been back in the headlines this month.

In its latest annual report on trends in democracy, published on Wednesday, Freedom House alleged that two veteran political leaders in Kosovo, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj, are among various powerful figures in the country who have criminal connections.

This is because, according to the law, courts should instruct victims in war crime trials to claim compensation in civil proceedings. But this is complicated, officials say.

Compensation from the state can be requested if the victim is unable to get restitution from the convicted defendant or from other sources.

Ismail Berbatovci closed the door of his apartment in the small central Kosovo town of Lipjan/Ljipljane for the last time on the morning of July 23, 1998.

His wife Peme remembers that he went out to do an interview with Rame Buja, a senior leader from the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, at the guerrilla force's local base in the nearby mountains.

The pre-trial judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Nicolas Guillou, extended detention for Hashim Thaci ahead of his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo.

Judge Guillou turned down a defence request for the release of Thaci, who was one of the wartime leaders of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA.