Kosovo Liberation Army

The trial of Nezir Mehmetaj, a Kosovo Albanian accused of participation in war crimes against civilians in the village of Rudice in the Klina municipality in June and July 1999, opened in Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday.

Mehmetaj is accused of involvement in killing seven people and burning and looting houses in Rudice as a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Pjeter Shala, who was a Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighter during the 1998-99 conflict with Serbian forces, pleaded not guilty to war crimes at a pre-trial initial appearance at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Monday.

"I understood [the charges] and I find the accusations ridiculous," Shala told the judge.

Pjeter Shala, a former Kosovo Liberation Army fighter, was transferred to a detention centre in The Hague on Thursday evening after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers confirmed a four-count indictment charging him with war crimes.

Shala, 57, who was arrested in Belgium last month, is to make an initial appearance before a pre-trial judge on Monday.

A joint statement issued by Kosovo's president and prime minister condemned any "involvement of citizens of Kosovo in the Macedonia incidents". The surviving gunmen were convicted of terrorism.

Russia has issued a warning against a repeat of the NATO Western military alliance's bombing campaign of Yugoslavia on its 22nd anniversary, as Washington's top diplomat seeks to rally the alliance for the first time under the banner of U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.

The Atlantic Association, an organisation representing Albanian-Americans who describe themselves as "proud former KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] soldiers", sent a letter to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday urging him to intervene to shift the Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court to Kosovo itself.

Two convicted war criminals, former Yugoslav deputy prime minister Nikola Sainovic and Yugoslav Army general Vladimir Lazarevic, appeared on Serbia's public broadcaster Radio-Television Serbia on Tuesday evening and denied that they committed the crimes of which they were convicted.

There are memorials across Serbia and Kosovo to commemorate hundreds of people who died during NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, which began on March 24, 1999 and is being marked with an official commemoration in Belgrade on Wednesday evening.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Catholic saint Mother Teresa, the Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Majlinda Kelmendi and the early 20th Century Albanian rebel leader Shote Galica are among the few women whose have been honoured with statues marking their historical importance in Kosovo.

The Belgian authorities on Tuesday detained Pjeter Shala, a former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA member after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers called for his arrest on war crimes charges.

"Pjeter Shala will be detained in Belgium, pending any transfer to the detention facility of the KSC [Kosovo Specialist Chambers] in The Hague," said a statement issued by Specialist Chambers.