Ends presenting evidence in case to Salih Mustafa, closing statements in September

For hearing the closing statements, the Judicial Chamber I has left days in reserve for September 16th, it is thus disclosed in a Kosovo specialised chamber announcement.

On June 20, 2022, the Judicial Chamber I ended the presentation of evidence in Mustafa's case, ordered the parties to hand over their final court files by July 21st and set the period from 13th to September 15th (and September 16th as a reserve day) for the release of exit statements”, the announcement said.

The trial against former Kosovo Liberation Army member Salih Mustafa began in September 2021.

In this trial, 13 witnesses of the Specialised Prosecutor's Office have been heard, many of them protected and in closed or edited sessions.

And Salih Mustafa's defense has presented 15 witnesses.

At the beginning of this process, Salih Mustafa, who faces charges of alleged war crimes, had been declared innocent before the court.

According to the Specialised Chambers “The confirmed indictment stipulates that approximately between April 1st 1999 and April 19, 1999, at a detention complex in Zlatko, Kosovo, arbitrary detention crimes, cruel treatment and torture against at least six persons” were committed. Also, in the indictment it is said that “in a date between April 19, 1999, or about this date, and about the end of April 1999, a banned “was killed at that location.

Salih Mustafa is staying in custody at The Hague from September 24th 2020, when he was arrested.