Kosovo war veterans protested over the conviction of two former KLA commanders of the 'Drenica group' on Wednesday by blocking a road.

Hundreds of veterans of the Kosovo war blocked the road from Pristina to Peja for two hours on Thursday to express their anger over Wednesday’s conviction of two former KLA commanders, Sylejman Selimi and Sami Lushtaku, for war crimes in the 1998-99 conflict.

KLA organisations from Skenderaj/Srbica and Gllogovc/Glogovac slated the conviction of the ex-commanders, saying the verdict diminished respect for the independence war.

“We are here to express our revulsion and anger about the court verdict. Lushtaku was a good commander during the war and in peace,” Hysni Guncati, representative of war veterans in Skenderaj/Srbica, said.

They warned of bigger protests if their demand for the release of the KLA commanders is not met.

The speaker of parliament, who belongs to the same party as the Drenica group convicts, Democratic Party of Kosovo, Kadri Veseli, also slated the convictions as “a heavy blow for all former KLA soldiers, for us as their comrades and especially for their families.

“We always believed in justice as well as in our pure war for liberation and independence, and we remain convinced that the processes of justice, until their conclusion, will prove this,” Veseli added.

The nationalist self-determination movement on Wednesday accused the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, of degrading the war for liberation.

“Convicting... Sylejman Selimi and the other accused at this sensitive time for Kosovo, EULEX is not convicting corruption but corrupting the suffering and sacrifices of Albaians”, a party press release read.

Zenun Pajaziti, MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, on Thursday told parliament that the conviction of the former KLA commanders had unsettled ordinary citizens and former KLA members.

The Mitrovica basic court on Wednesday convicted Lushtaku, mayor of Skenderaj/Srbica, for 12 years for murder and Selimi, a former ambassador to Albania, for six years of torturing a civilian prisoner.

The court sentenced Selimi to an additional eight years for beating and torturing the same civilian prisoner, this time as part of a group.

Three other former Drenica Group members, Jahir Demaku, Zeqir Demaku and Isni Thaci, were sentenced to seven years for the torture of civilians at the detention centre.

Ex-guerrillas Agim Demaj, Bashkim Demaj, Driton Demaj, Selman Demaj, Fadil Demaku, Nexhat Demaku were also sentenced to three years each for beatings at the detention centre.

Four more former KLA fighters - Sabit Geci, Ismet Haxha, Sahit Jashari and Avni Zabeli - were found not guilty.