Kosovo Terror Suspects Deny ISIS Video Charge

Five Kosovo terror suspects arrested on July 2015 with an ISIS flag, uniforms and Arabic scripts, have rejected a prosecution indictment that they planned to make a video of their oath of allegiance to ISIS.

The prosecution charges four of them, Besnik Latifi, Gazmend Haliti, Milazim Haxhiaj and Enis Latifi, with planning to record an ISIS propaganda video, and a fifth, Fehmi Musa, with having helped one of the suspects to flee arrest.

The group gained international attention following claims they were planning to poison the Badovc Lake, which supplies drinking water to Pristina and other towns.

Despite the lack of supporting evidence, the media frenzy prompted the water company to stop the supply from the lake until analysis proved there was nothing wrong with the water.

However, the actual charges say no evidence of a plan to poison the lake had been found.

"The only objective of the terrorist group was to read an oath [of allegiance] to the terrorist organization ISIS," the prosecution indictment said.

Blerim Qela, lawyer for Fehmi Musa, asked for his client to be allowed to leave detention and be placed under lighter security measures for health reasons.

"He suffers from a renal disease and needs infusions and other treatment," the lawyer told the court, which asked for a medical report before deciding on the matter.

The court denied the other requests from the lawyers, and said the indictment was drafted in accordance with the law.

Around 60 persons are on trial in Kosovo courts in relation to terrorist activities, following the arrests of some 100 hardline Muslims since September 2014.

Authorities say that 300 up to just over 350 Kosovars have left the country to fight in Syria for various Islamist...