Kosovar arrested on war-crimes charges

PRISTINA, Kosovo — A special international court said Thursday that a former commander of the separatist fighters in Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war has been arrested on charges including torture of detainees and the murder of one prisoner held at a compound in Kosovo during the conflict.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, based in The Hague, said former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Salih Mustafa was arrested based on a “warrant, transfer order and confirmed indictment issued by a pre-trial judge.”

He is the first ethnic Albanian arrested and sent to the court, which is investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity investigation stemming from Kosovo’s conflict with Serbia.

Mustafa is charged with the war crimes of arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture of at least six people and the murder of one person at a detention compound in Zllash, Kosovo, in April 1999. The victims were accused by KLA fighters of collaborating with Serbs or not supporting the KLA, according to the indictment.

In one incident alleged in the indictment, Mustafa interrogated a detainee “about his knowledge of the identities of thieves and spies, and beat him with a baseball bat all over his body, causing him severe mental harm and severe physical injuries.”

The court said Mustafa was transferred to its detention facilities in The Hague on Thursday and will appear before a pre-trial judge “without undue delay.”