Sopi: KLA has fought for liberation of country, Serbian forces have burned civilians

On the first day of his testimony at The Hague, prosecutor Caesar Mihailzcuk has asked him about the role he had in these offensives.

“In April 1999, we had two Serbian offensives, one was on April 7th 1999 from the direction of the border with Serbia in the village we called the Versice, Serbian forces have infiltrated the positions where the Bay of Brigades 153 were located, and on April 7th, the mid-day confrontation with Serb forces where I and the commander of the Brigade Adam Shehu began. Until April 18, 1999. In those battles, I have asked the 153 brigade headquarters to be appointed commander of war operations in Grazica, the task I have voluntarily asked for and was allowed by Brigade headquarters 153”, Sopi said.

He has said that fighting has held them until April 18th, where, according to him, the 153 Brigade and its positions have launched a Serbian offensive from all directions.

At the time, there were thousands and thousands of people displaced or displaced by Pristina, Podujevo, and other regions of Kosovo who from the war had withdrawn and settled in Pristina, and those persons made their way into Gollak's direction, the Serbian army and police, and whom we have cared for all the time. And on April 18th, when the general offensive started again in those battles in those battles we were active almost all the soldiers of the 153 Brigade. This offensive has lasted four days where among our soldiers and among civilians there have been many losses, Serbian forces have guaranteed with the means and technology they have possessed from all directions, sparing neither civilians nor children, women and elders, during this offensive there have been terrible events where entire families or people who have been in their homes have been guaranteed and burned to life”, he said.

Sopi has said that Serb forces have attacked Albanian civilians, among them children and elders who were sheltered in the Gollak region.

“If a Serb soldier had a reason to die in Kosovo, we KLA soldiers had 100 reasons because they have led a war to keep Kosovo at bay while our forces have worked and fought for the liberation of the country”, he said.

The prosecutor also asked Sopi about Nazif Metoll and the nickname “Tabbuti” for which witness has said he heard his name but the same was not part of the 153 Brigade.

Fatmir Sopi is the 11th witness who is being heard in the judicial process against Salih Mustaf, and the hearing is being held open to the public.

He said he had joined. 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.

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.