Fatmir Sopi completes testimony in trial of Salih Mustafa in The Hague

Sopi, who is testifying in the trial against Salih Mustafa, has said there was nothing special about BIA's base and that it was a common home, but that no one lived in it and was given to the KLA soldiers.

I think the BIA unit used this KLA base, this house as its base because the development of their activities could not develop in Pristina where the majority or all KLA soldiers who were lined up in the BIA unit. Unable to be safe in Pristina because Pristina was then controlled by Serbian military and police forces, they exploited this point for their stance. [Pristina] ... "There was nothing special, it was like all the foundations of the Kosovo Liberation Army”, Sopi said.

He has said BIA was located at the Krasniqi family home in Zllash even because of its top geographic position so that it is harder to penetrate Serbian forces in that part.

Sopi has also said the base of Brigade 153 has been in Zlath until he has shown details about the Serbian offensive that started on April 18th 1999.

“I believe the offensive started on April 18th, three days we've resisted and allowed their penetrate in Zlat and at the end of the third day when the civil population is drawn towards Pristina, and since continued guarantees we've had the loss of both our soldiers and the civilian population we've been forced to release our points in the sense that it has begun to penetrate with tanks and heavy vehicles in the direction of Zllash and they've managed to invade Ztin<1> he said.

He has said Serbs then burned almost all the houses in Zlath and guaranteed the school and houses seen by the hills of Little Zlat.

Sopi has said that at the time of Serbian guarantees he and a group of soldiers have not left Zlati but have been in the mountains until the departure of Serbian forces.

Fatmir Sopi has witnessed for two days in front of the Specialised Chambers where he said, among other things, he is not there with his own free will but has been invited by the Special Prosecutor's Office.

Sopi said he'd joined her. U n The CK has been hosting the Gollak region since its beginnings in 1998, while today it is chairman of the KLA War Veterans Organisation in Pristina.

Prior to Sopi's testimony, in the trial process against Salih Mustafa, ten SPS witnesses have been heard, all protected, whose identity has not been disclosed to the public.

The next session in the Mustafa case will be held on Tuesday, January 25th, 2022.

The trial, which began on September 15th 2021, is the first in Kosovo's Specialised Chambers in The Hague, while ten protected witnesses of the Specialised Prosecutor's Office have been heard so far.

The Act against Mustafa, who is the first arrested by the Special, was confirmed on June 12th 2020, as he was arrested on September 24th last year, with the claim of war crimes.

He is standing at The Hague's detention centre, while in his statement to the court, Salih Mustafa has been declared innocent.