Kosovo war crimes tribunal sentences KLA member to 18 years in prison

Kosovo war crimes tribunal sentences KLA member to 18 years in prison

Judges at the Kosovo tribunal in The Hague sentenced former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) member Pjeter Shala on Tuesday to 18 years in prison for war crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo uprising against Serbian troops.

Shala was convicted of war crimes including torture, murder and arbitrary detention, committed as he ran a makeshift prison where people were abused and at least one man was killed.

Shala maintained his innocence throughout his trial. His lawyers argued that he was not present when crimes were committed nor had he participated in them.

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The judges, however, ruled that he was "beyond reasonable doubt" part of a criminal group that detained and severely mistreated at least 18 people it considered to be spies or collaborators with Serbs.

More than 13,000 people are believed to have died during the 1998-99 Kosovo uprising against Serbian troops led by then-President Slobodan Milosevic. The former Serbian province eventually declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade does not recognise.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a war crimes court seated in the Netherlands and staffed by international judges and lawyers, was set up in 2015 to handle cases under Kosovo law against fighters of the KLA.

It is separate from a U.N. tribunal, also located in The Hague, which prosecuted nationals from the former Yugoslavia over the 1990s Balkans wars, including several Serb officials and one former KLA member for crimes committed in the Kosovo conflict.