No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2025
On December 14, 2023, the Appeals Panel of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) delivered its judgment in its first war crimes case against Salih Mustafa, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), charged with leading a guerrilla unit known as the “BIA” unit Zllash, in the Gollak region of Kosovo. Mustafa was charged by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office (SPO) with war crimes, including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture, and murder, in connection with the mistreatment of prisoners at a makeshift detention facility in Zllash in April 1999. The Appeals Judgment affirmed Mustafa's convictions for arbitrary detention, torture, and murder as war crimes, but granted his appeal, in part, against his sentence. The Appeals Panel lowered Mustafa's single sentence from twenty-six to twenty-two years of imprisonment, concluding that this reflected the totality of Mustafa's criminal conduct in this case. The sentence was subject to further review and determination by the Appeals Panel pursuant to the Supreme Court Panel's subsequent decision on protection of legality, wherein that Panel granted Grounds 1 and 3 of the Mustafa's Protection of Legality Request. The Supreme Court Panel annulled the Appeals Judgment with respect to Mustafa's sentence, and it remanded the Appeals Judgment to the Appeals Panel for a new determination thereon. Accordingly, the Appeals Chambers Panel made a new determination of the sentence, by imposing a single sentence of fifteen years of imprisonment on Mustafa. These Trial and Appeals judgments mark a milestone for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), as they represent the first ruling by this tribunal in a war crimes case.
1 KSC-CA-2023-02/F00038/RED, Public Redacted Version of Appeal Judgment, (Dec. 14, 2023) (confidential version filed on Dec. 14, 2023) [hereinafter Appeal Judgment].
2 KSC-BC-2020-05/F00008/RED, Public Redacted Version of Decision on the Confirmation of the Indictment Against Salih Mustafa (Oct. 5, 2020).
3 KSC-BC-2020-05/F00009/A01/RED/, Public Redacted Version of Arrest Warrant for Mr Salih Mustafa (June 12, 2020).
4 KSC-BC-2020-05/F00494/Public, further redacted version of corrected version of public redacted version of Trial Judgment (Dec. 16, 2022).
5 KSC-BC-2020-05/F00517/RED/COR/, corrected version of public redacted version of reparation order against Salih Mustafa with 4 Annexes Strictly Confidential and Ex parte (Apr. 6, 2023).
6 Appeal Judgment.
7 KSC-SC-2024-02, F00011, Defence Request for Protection of Legality with Confidential Annex 1 and 2 pursuant to Article 48 (6) to (8) of the Law and Rule 193 of the Rules (Mar. 14, 2024).
8 KSC-SC-2024-02, F00018, Decision on Salih Mustafa's Request for Protection of Legality (July 29, 2024) [hereinafter Supreme Court Decision].
9 Supreme Court Decision, ¶¶ 62, 106; Appeal Judgment, ¶ 466.
10 Supreme Court Decision, ¶¶ 75, 108.
11 Id. ¶ 104. See also Appeal Judgment, ¶¶ 478–479.
12 Supreme Court Decision, ¶ 105.
13 Id. ¶ 105, quoting Appeal Judgment, ¶ 479.
14 KSC-CA-2023-02/F00045/Public, Court of Appeals Chamber Decision on New Determination of Salih Mustafa's Sentence, 10 September 2024.
15 Supreme Court Decision, ¶¶ 102, 107, 111(ii).
16 Supreme Court Decision, ¶ 111(v)
17 Supreme Court Decision, ¶ 111(iii) and (iv).
18 The Appeals Panel recalls that, with respect to Count 1, it reduced the ten-year sentence imposed by the Trial Panel to a sentence of eight years' imprisonment. See Appeal Judgment, ¶¶ 480, 484.