THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at a European Union-backed court upheld murder, torture and arbitrary detention convictions against a former Kosovo war liberation fighter Monday. But they cut his prison term from 18 years to 13 years, saying judges imposed too harsh a sentence at his trial.
Pjetër Shala was for his role in the abuse of detainees being held by the Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, at a makeshift jail in a metal factory in Kukёs, northern Albania, during Kosovo's 1999 .
The 62-year-old Shala watched Monday's hearing at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers by videoconference, and shook his head after Judge Kai Ambos of Germany rejected large parts of his appeal and handed down the new sentence.
The appeals panel, however, ruled that trial judges wrongly found him guilty of five cases of torture and two of arbitrary detention, saying there was insufficient evidence. But they upheld his convictions on the same counts for other detainees and for his role in the murder of one detainee, who was shot and then denied medical treatment.
In reducing his sentence, the three-judge appeals panel ruled that trial judges didn't give sufficient weight to the fact that Shala didn't hold a command role when the man was murdered. The appeals judges also said that the original 18-year sentence was “out of reasonable proportion to comparable cases,†the court said in a statement.
Kimberly West, the prosecutor who leads the office that indicted Shala, welcomed the appeal judgment, which she said "reinforces the rule of law and contributes to achieving accountability for serious crimes and justice for Mr. Shala’s victims.â€
Kosovo’s 1998-1999 fight to break away from Serbia was led by the KLA, whose main leaders, including former President , are now being tried in The Hague.
More than 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died during the war, before a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbia to pull its troops out of the country and to cede control to the United Nations and NATO. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, which was recognized by the United States and most of the West, but not by Serbia or its allies Russia and China.
