23 Jul 14
A witness told the trial of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s ‘Drenica Group’ cell, accused of assaulting prisoners during the 1998-99 war, that her husband was beaten at a KLA jail.

Behar Mustafa
BIRN
Mitrovica

The protected prosecution witness identified only as ‘Witness K’ testified on Tuesday at the war crimes trial of the seven former Drenica Group fighters, who include Pristina’s ambassador to Tirana, that her husband was seized and assaulted by KLA members at a detention centre.

Testifying via video link, Witness K said that when her husband came home after being held for a month at the detention centre in Likovc/Likovac, he was injured.

“His condition was very serious, he had blood on his clothes, broken ribs, and he was swollen all over his body. I wondered how in that condition he could have walked and come home,” the witness said.

She said that when he was detained, there was no indication how long he would be held.

“It was August 1998, in the late afternoon hours. There were two armed people with KLA insignias in uniforms and hats. They told him that he needed to give a statement and that he would return home again,” she said.

She said that while he was being held at the detention centre, she was not allowed to speak to him.

“Every day someone from the family went there [including] me personally. The KLA soldiers at the Likovc detention centre stopped us from visiting the centre, telling us that he was not there,” the witness said.

The members of the Drenica Group are accused, amongst other things, of forcing her husband and another man to beat each other, and of dragging him across the floor by his genitals.

The defendants include ambassador Sylejman Selimi, who is also Kosovo’s former security forces commander. and the mayor of Skenderaj/Srbice, Sami Lushtaku. They deny the charges.