Kosovo: Ten go on trial for war crimes

Pristina, 11 Nov. (AKI) - Ten former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) pleaded innocent Friday during the opening of their trial in a Pristina district court on charges of war crimes.

Fatmir Limaj, vice president of prime minister Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo and nine others were charged with kidnapping and killing civilians and soldiers of the former Yugoslav Army in a detention camp in the village of Klecka during 1998/99 Kosovo war of independence from Serbia.

Limaj was at the time commander of “Kumanova” unit of the KLA, the ethnic Albanian rebels who fought to separate itself from Serbian rule in 1998. Kosovo's majority Albanians declared independence in 2008 which has been recognized by over 80 countries, including the United States and 22 out of 27 European Union members.

The indictment was read by the EU prosecutor Maurizio Salustro and after hearing the charges all ten pleaded not guilty. According to Kosovo's Albanian-language media, Salustro questioned Thaci on Thursday as a witness on Limaj’s role in the war.

Limaj had been tried by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes, but was acquitted in 2005 for lack of evidence.

The key witness in that trial was supposed to be another former KLA member, Agim Zogaj. As a protected witness he was moved to Germany, but was found dead in a Duisburg park last September.

German police said he committed suicide, but his family claims Zogaj was murdered and blamed the EU mission in Kosovo (EULEX) for not providing adequate protection.