Specialised Prosecutor Presents Final Declaration in Judgment Against Salih Mustafa

Kosovo's Specialised Chambers in The Hague are continuing the trial against former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Salih Mustafa, where the final prosecution statement is being heard. The specialised attorney Jack Smith, who mentioned evidence given to the prosecution's witnesses during this trial, is speaking on his own.

Smtyh has said that the work of this court only makes sense if the victims know that this is where they can tell their stories without fear.

 I ask you to think for a moment about one of the victims of this case, the victim who did not survive the torture that occurred at the Zollash Prevention complex, the victim you heard about from the family during this trial, whose murder is part of the case. How old would he be now, what would have been done with his life if this life hadn't been taken, it would have been a little over 50, but whatever had been done with his life, this we'll never know... We can only speculate, but the truth is that we will never know this, nor will his family ever know because of Salih Mustaf and the people he commanded, those who tortured and killed”, Smith said before Mapie Veldt-Foglia's court.

The Special Prosecutor has said that with the Special Court, for the first time in over 23 years, victims have been given the opportunity to talk about the suffering he believed they endured in

The truth is that some KLA leaders, Mr Mustafa, have used their power to victimize, brutalize Kosovars, including individuals whose only mistake is that they are perceived not to have enough loyalty The KLA or its leaders but have political views that are different from those of the KLA or its leaders. As you have seen in last year's testimony, there were no legitimate military targets for stopping them, there was no excuse for the wretched conditions in which they were kept or the way they were tortured during their detention”, Smith said.

The judgment on Salih Mustafa in The Hague is at last, and now is the stage when closing statements of the parties are heard.

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.

Early in this process Salih Mustafa, who faces charges of alleged war crimes, was 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.