Opening of the Trial of Salih Mustafa Before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers

Alessandro Di Pietrantonio

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

Salih Mustafa was Commander of a BIA guerrilla unit, which operated within the Llap Operational Zone of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The charged crimes took place in the context of and were associated with an armed conflict in Kosovo between the KLA and forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Republic of Serbia, including units of the Yugoslav army, police and other units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other groups fighting on behalf of the FRY and Serbia. The BIA unit allegedly consisted of approximately 500 soldiers, which operated predominantly in and around large urban areas. The BIA unit, which Mustafa commanded, operated from a compound consisting of a number of buildings in Zllash/Zlaš. It is alleged that the BIA unit used the compound as a safe house and as a detention and interrogation site. The indictment alleges that the crimes charged were committed by certain KLA members against persons detained at the Zllash Detention Compound. The indictment further alleges that the victims of these crimes were all FRY citizens and were persons taking no active part in hostilities. Mustafa was arrested on 24 September 2020 in Prishtinë/Priština, Kosovo and transferred to The Hague on the same day. He is charged on the basis of individual criminal responsibility and of superior criminal responsibility with war crimes (arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder. Mustafa pleaded not guilty to all counts. 

Sources and further reading:

Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Case Information Sheet - Specialist Prosecutor v. Salih Mustafa (Case No. KSC-BC-2020-05), 2021 

https://www.scp-ks.org/sites/default/files/public/cis_mustafa-en.pdf