Kosovo Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) said that during the court proceeding against the Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister, Fatmir Limaj in Djakovica Basic Court, some prosecution witnesses gave up on accusing testimonies they made in earlier hearings, therefore become witnesses of the opposite party in the case, Insajder portal reported.

The Basic Court in Djakovica rejected a lawsuit for the war crimes against Limaj in the case of a murder of two persons in 1998 in the municipality of Malisevo.

“HLC Kosovo regularly monitored the trial of indicted Limaj. What can be noticed is that some prosecution witnesses, even close relatives of one of the victims, to some extent changed their testimonies at the main hearing in favor of indicted, comparing to the statements they have made in earlier phases of the proceeding,” HLC press release said.

HLC added, a trend typical for the war crimes’ trials in Kosovo continues, with prosecution witnesses giving up on accusing testimonies at the main hearings, comparing to the statements they have made earlier, thus becoming witnesses of the opposite party in the case.

HLC also announced they would make an analysis of the trial in this case, after receiving the written elaboration of the decision from the court. They also said it was the first war crime case since 1998/1999 conflict, initiated by a domestic prosecutor and ruled by domestic judges.

According to HLC it can also represent a test for the capacity readiness of the Kosovo judiciary to independently and without international assistance deal with war crimes cases, Insajder reported.