Judges of the Supreme Court at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court announced on Wednesday that they have upheld the 15-year prison sentence for former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander Salih Mustafa, who was found guilty of arbitrary detention, torture, and murder.
The court “rejected the requests for protection of legality, submitted by both Mustafa and the SPO [Specialist Prosecutor’s Office]. These requests were filed in connection with the Court of Appeals’ ruling from September 10 of the previous year [2024], which had imposed a new 15-year sentence on Mustafa,” the Specialist Chambers said.
“The panel determined that Mustafa failed to identify how the 15-year sentence constitutes a violation of the criminal law. Regarding the SPO’s request, the panel concluded that only mere disagreements with particular decisions do not meet the rigorous standards required for a successful request for protection of legality,” the court added.
In December 2022, Mustafa was found guilty of three war crimes, including the arbitrary detention and torture of at least six detainees and the murder of one prisoner.
The judges said Mustafa personally participated in the torture of two detainees.
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