Salih Mustafa

This is because, according to the law, courts should instruct victims in war crime trials to claim compensation in civil proceedings. But this is complicated, officials say.

Compensation from the state can be requested if the victim is unable to get restitution from the convicted defendant or from other sources.

The judging panel in the case against former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Salih Mustafa at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers issued a ruling last year about compensation for victims which noted that Kosovo's Law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers does not set specific criteria for how compensation can be obtained.

A protected witness told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday that he saw five or six people beating a prisoner who was being held in an improvised detention facility in the village of Zllash/Zlas, some 30 kilometres east of Kosovo's capital Pristina, during the war in 1999.

A protected witness told the trial of Salih Mustafa at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Monday that he was detained for 17 days in a cowshed in the village of Zllash/Zlas, some 30 kilometres east of Kosovo's capital Pristina, during the war in 1999.

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.

A protected witness told the trial of Salih Mustafa at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Monday that he was detained in 1999 in the village of Zllash/Zlas, some 30 kilometres east of Kosovo's capital Pristina.

The Victims' Participation Office of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers said in its opening statement at the first trial held at the Hague-based court on Wednesday that the alleged victims of Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters during the 1998-99 war have been intimidated into silence for decades.

Former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA unit commander Salih Mustafa went on trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Wednesday, charged with involvement in murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detentions during the Kosovo war in April 1999.

"Today marks a milestone for this institution and our work," prosecutor Jack Smith said in his opening statement on Wednesday.