Kadri Veseli

Rrustem Mustafa, former commander of Kosovo Liberation Army's wartime Llap Operational Zone, also known by the nom de guerre Remi, told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague this week in the trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three co-defendants that the guerrilla force mainly functioned from the bottom up and did not have a fully-established chain of command.

The seventh witness in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former guerrilla leaders told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday that he suffered psychologically after he was injured by KLA fighters.

The trial of former KLA leaders Hashim Thai, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi began on April 3.

Throughout the opening day on Monday, Albanians wearing the traditional plis cap or T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Liria ka emer" ("Freedom has a name") made their voices heard in the Dutch city as opening statements were delivered in the trial of Thaci and his wartime comrades turned politicians, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.

Hashim Thaci (centre) with Rexhep Selimi behind him in court on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE/Koen van Weel/Pool.

Using video footage of statements from the 1990s as well as documents found in some of the defendants' homes, lead prosecutor Alan Tieger showed the court KLA communiques and orders for arrests, which he said was evidence that the guerrilla force targeted political opponents.

"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.

The prosecution's presentation of evidence in the case against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former senior Kosovo Liberation Army, KA guerrillas at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague could go on for six-and-a-half years, presiding judge Charles Smith III told a case status conference at the court on Monday.