Kosovo Liberation Army Ex-Guerrilla Convicted of War Crime

The court in Prizren on Wednesday sentenced Remzi Shala, a former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA unit commander known during wartime as 'The Red Apple', to 14 years in prison for committing a war crime.

Shala was convicted of the kidnapping of Haxhi Perteshi from Duhel, a village in the Suhareka/Suva Reka area in 1998. Days after he was seized, Perteshi was found dead.

Shala, who had pleaded not guilty, told the court that he had no dealings with the civilian population during the war.

"I am proud I was a soldier of the KLA, and during the war I did not deal with the civilian population, neither Albanian nor Serb," he insisted.

Wednesday's verdict was a first-instance ruling and can be appealed.

At the beginning of this year, Shala went on the run after being charged.

He was initially supposed to appear in court in Prizren in January.

He was also invited for interview by the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Prosecution, which is probing alleged wartime and post-war crimes by former Kosovo Liberation Army members, the same month.

However he did not appear in Prizren or The Hague, and went into hiding in Albania.

The court in Prizren then issued a warrant for his arrest.

Shala told BIRN in January that he would not appear for the interview in The Hague because he does not trust the Kosovo Specialist Chambers - the so-called 'Special Court' which is expected to try former Kosovo Liberation Army figures indicted by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office.

But he was subsequently questioned for two days by the Specialist Prosecution, BIRN has learned.