Xhemshit Krasniqi

Two protected witnesses testified this week at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague at the war crimes trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala, alias 'Commander Wolf', describing the poor conditions at the Kukes Metal Factory in Albania, where detainees were allegedly held and mistreated by KLA fighters in 1999.

Pjeter Shala, who was a Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighter during the 1998-99 conflict with Serbian forces, pleaded not guilty to war crimes at a pre-trial initial appearance at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Monday.

"I understood [the charges] and I find the accusations ridiculous," Shala told the judge.

Pjeter Shala, a former Kosovo Liberation Army fighter, was transferred to a detention centre in The Hague on Thursday evening after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers confirmed a four-count indictment charging him with war crimes.

Shala, 57, who was arrested in Belgium last month, is to make an initial appearance before a pre-trial judge on Monday.

He and others were held by the KLA in the mountains of northern Albania until June 1999. After the war officially ended, he and three other detainees were brought to a building in Prizren in Kosovo. A week later, he managed to escape.

Kosovo Liberation Army ex-fighter Xhemshit Krasniqi, who was convicted of abuse and torture at detention camps in Kosovo and Albania, had his prison sentence reduced on appeal to seven years.

Around 1,000 people led by Kosovo Liberation Army veterans protested in the town of Prizren over the arrest of former senior guerrilla Xhemshit Krasniqi for alleged war crimes committed in Albania.

Kosovo court ordered a month's detention for former Kosovo Liberation Army leader Xhemshit Krasniqi, suspected of carrying out war crimes in Albania.