The Basic Court in Pristina has acquitted Skenderaj Mayor Sami Lushtaku of all charges related to witness intimidation.

Lushtaku, a senior figure in Kosovo’s Democratic Party (PDK), had been indicted in the “Drenica 1” case alongside seven other defendants.

Presiding Judge Leon Përlaska said that the court found insufficient evidence during the trial to prove that the defendants had committed the criminal offences with which they were charged.

Lushtaku had been accused of pressuring two witnesses between 2013 and 2015 to change their statements during the “Drenica” war crimes trial, which concerned alleged crimes committed in the village of Likoc in the Drenica region.