Kosovo Liberation Army

Jakup Krasniqi told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague during opening statements in the case against him and three other ex-guerrillas that he denies the charges, some of which he described as "absurd".

Krasniqi, 72, told the court he had nothing to do with the war crimes and crimes against humanity mentioned in the indictment.

According to him, if the former leader of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army is found guilty, it will mean that NATO fought against Milosevic's regime in 1999 with the help of a war criminal.

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci addressed the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday as defence lawyers began their opening statements in his trial, saying he anticipates that he will be cleared.

"I expect to be acquitted," Thaci told the court.

Follow BIRN's reporters for the latest developments as the war crimes trial of Kosovo's ex-president Hashim Thaci and three other former leaders of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army begins in The Hague.

"We refuse to have our history distorted," one protester said when he took loud speaker in his hand to address the protest.

Tahir Citaku made a trip of more than 700 kilometres from the Swiss city of Basel to The Hague to protest against the trial.

 Tahir Citaku. Photo: BIRN.

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and his three co-defendants went on trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Monday morning, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed between at least March 1998 and September 1999 in Kosovo and neighbouring Albania during and just after the war with Serbian forces.

"President Thaci and these gentlemen were freedom fighters trying to liberate Kosovo from a terrible situation that they were suffering for decades from the Serb regime and during the course of this trial we are going to demonstrate that," Kehoe said.

Sejdi Zymeri's house in the village of Likovc/Likovac is close to where the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA used to have its headquarters in the Drenica region, the guerrillas' wartime heartland.

Four witnesses testified in the war crimes trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala, known by the nom de guerre 'Commander Wolf', at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague this week, accusing him of torture.

The first witness in the war crimes trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala, known by the nom de guerre 'Commander Wolf', testified on Monday that his father was tortured by Shala personally at a KLA detention site at the Kukes Metal Factory in Albania in 1999.