In judging Mustafa witness shows the occasion when Serbs beat his wife and son

Ahmet Ademi, the second defence witness in the trial of Salih Mustaf in The Hague, has confessed his life during the war period in Kosovo. He has told the court of violence and other persecution that Serbian police forces had committed on him and his family.

Ademi has said he worked on the Red Cross until 1997, where he then left Serbs and then served illegally to help Albanian families during the war.

In front of Kosovo's Specialised Chambers in The Hague, Ademi has said that in 1997, Serbs had dismissed him and several other colleagues for being Albanians.

I worked on the Red Cross of Kosovo, from the age of 28 until 1997, I worked on the Red Cross, in 19997, we were fired from work, and now we have done illegally, we have opened a Kosovo Red Cross office for our population, we have done it. Serbia's Red Cross expelled us from work in 97, in 1997 with Professor Isuf Dedusaj and other members have opened an illegal Red Cross office that has operated in Pristina and throughout Kosovo”, he has said.

He has said that Serbia's Red Cross did not want Albanian workers to understand their actions or help the Albanian people.

So according to him, there was a need to open another Red Cross office so that the Albanian people could be supplied with food and other basics.

We took the medical supplies through donations, there was a birth fund called, we had a drug store nearby and we took the drugs, and from other donors”, the witness said.

He has said aid was distributed to various areas, such as Drenica, Llap, Gollak and Gjilan.

The defence witness has said that when NATO bombings began in March 1999, people were no longer able to go to the Red Cross offices to get what they needed because they were threatened by Serb forces.

According to him, aid has been distributed through volunteers.

“Yes, the population was controlled (by Serbs) in the streets, searched, stopped, asked, beaten in the middle of the street... There's a time after I got beat up, and it looks like 50 marks have taken me at the time, and they even beat me and they took me, and they told me why you're keeping marks when you're here in Serbia, that's not our currency, our money is Serbia's, so I've eaten and beat the m'i's got 50 marks of”, he said.

As soon as the NATO bombings began, he has said that Serb forces had gone to his home, where they had beaten and tortured their wife and son.

I've lived, but with difficulty. Police forces have come and persecuted my wife and 4-year-old son. I was afraid of getting on the roof and the roof watching them torture my wife, my family and my son from that time on in mental health, from trauma”, he said.

He has said this happened in mid-March 1999 or late, but has added that he does not remember the dates well.

It was during the bombing that occurred when the police came in and beat my wife and child, with small axes”, he said.

Kosovo's Specialised Chambers in The Hague are continuing to hear testimony from the second defence witness in the trial of Salih Mustaf.

He was arrested on 24 September last year, with the claim of war crimes.

Salih Mustafa is staying at the detention centre in The Hague, while in his statement to the court he is declared innocent.