Kosovo War Crime Witness Asks Hague Court for Compensation

In his second day of testimony at the trial of Salih Mustafa at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, a protected witness codenamed 3593 spoke about the conditions in which he was held at a Kosovo Liberation Army detention centre, and said he deserves compensation.

Mustafa is accused of involvement in murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detentions during the Kosovo war in April 1999 at a KLA-run detention compound in Zllash/Zlas, which was allegedly run by a unit that he commanded.

He is the first ex-KLA fighter to be tried by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, and has pleaded not guilty.

"I had my arm broken in three places because of beatings. I have had an intervention in the head, my middle finger is broken, my teeth were broken as a result of kicks and I am asking the court for compensation," said protected witness 3593.

The witness was shown a photograph in court, which he confirmed showed the place where he was held.

"In what we see on these two floors, there is a basement below and I was being held at the basement. [KLA] soldiers were upstairs," he said.

He added that he was beaten by two people who he could not identify.

He also recalled the moment when he was released from detention.

"When I went out of the house where I was being held, I saw a lot of people in the courtyard but I was not interested in anything else but getting away from there," he said.

He was presented with another photograph and said he could identify the people in it.

"This was the KLA commander Fatmir Sopi and on the right side is the defendant, whose name I do not even want to mention," he said, referring to Mustafa.

Mustafa allegedly committed his crimes against prisoners accused by the...