The Appeals Panel at the Special Court has reduced the 26-year prison sentence for the former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Salih Mustafa, to 22 years, including time served in pre-trial detention.

Mustafa has been in pre-trial detention in The Hague since September 2020.

The decision to reduce the sentence was announced by the president of the Appeals Panel, Michele Picard, on Thursday, in the courtroom in The Hague, where Mustafa was also present.

The verdict of December 14 is the first Appeals Panel decision for war crimes involving an Albanian at the Special Court.

“The Appeals Panel cancels the 10-year prison sentence for point 1 of the indictment and imposes an 8-year prison sentence; cancels the 22-year prison sentence for point 3 of the indictment and imposes a 20-year prison sentence; cancels the 25-year prison sentence for point 4 of the indictment and imposes a 22-year prison sentence. Cancels the consolidated 26-year prison sentence for Mr. Mustafa and imposes a consolidated 22-year prison sentence for Mr. Mustafa, including time served in pre-trial detention,” stated Appeals Panel President Michele Picard, explaining that the verdict for his guilt on points 1, 3, and 4 remains in force, but only the sentence has been reduced.

Salih Mustafa was sentenced in December of the previous year by the Special Court to 26 years in prison for unlawful killing, arbitrary detention, and torture.

He was sentenced to 10 years for arbitrary detention, 22 years for torture, and 25 years for unlawful killing.

Mustafa had been declared not guilty of cruel treatment. He himself had pleaded not guilty to these crimes.

Picard stated that the judgment must be implemented immediately, ordering Mustafa to remain in pre-trial detention until the measures for his transfer to the state where he will serve his sentence are finalized.

Later in the year, Salih Mustafa had appealed the 26-year prison sentence, seeking a verdict of innocence or a reduction of the sentence.

On the other hand, the Office of the Special Prosecutor had requested that the guilty verdict remain in force, as, according to them, there was reliable evidence for it.

Mustafa’s conviction marked the first final decision of the Special Court regarding investigations into war crimes in Kosovo.

What did the Appeals Panel find?

After Salih Mustafa argued that his sentence was excessive, the Appeals Panel analyzed international and Kosovo jurisprudence related to war crimes comparable to those for which Mustafa was sentenced, said the Appeals Panel president, Michele Picard on Thursday.

“The Appeals Panel finds that in cases tried by the International Tribunal and Kosovo courts regarding war crimes similar to those for which Mr. Mustafa was sentenced, the given sentences were shorter than Mr. Mustafa’s sentence,” she said.

She stated, “The Appeals Panel finds that the discrepancy between Mr. Mustafa’s sentence and the sentences analyzed by the panel indicates that the trial chamber exceeded the limits of discretion in this case”.

“Consequently, the Appeals Panel judges that by imposing on Mr. Mustafa sentences disproportionately compared to a range of sentences given in similar circumstances for similar criminal offenses, the trial chamber committed a discernible error in the given sentence,” said Picard before announcing the decision to reduce Mustafa’s sentence by 4 years.

Mustafa had raised several objections, claiming that legal and factual errors were made in the trial chamber’s decision to declare him guilty, but they were rejected by the Appeals Panel.

Through his lawyer, Mustafa had claimed that during the pronouncement of the sentence, the trial chamber was selective and considered only the witnesses who testified against him. These objections were dismissed by the Appeals Panel.

Legal proceedings flow

Mustafa was arrested and transferred to the pre-trial unit of the Special Court on September 24, 2020.

The crimes for which he is held responsible are said to have been committed in the Zlas detention complex in Kosovo in April 1999.

His trial began on September 15, 2021, and during it, 29 witnesses testified, 14 of them from the Office of the Special Prosecutor and 15 from the defense.

Among these witnesses were also individuals who presented themselves as victims.

In April, the Special Court of Kosovo issued a decision obliging Mustafa to pay 207,000 euros to the victims of unlawful killing, arbitrary detention, and torture.

In the announcement of the confiscation order on April 6, 2023, the court found that there were eight victims entitled to compensation.

According to the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague, in Mustafa’s case, all the victims are ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.

The Specialized Chambers and the Office of the Special Prosecutor, also known as the Special Court, investigate alleged crimes committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army against ethnic minorities and political rivals from January 1998 to December 2000.

The Special Court of Kosovo was established following the publication of a Council of Europe report in 2011, authored by Swiss Senator Dick Marty. In 2015, the deputies of the Kosovo Assembly voted for the establishment of this court.