Kosovo tribunal confirms war crimes conviction of ex-KLA commander

Salih Mustafa at the start of the pronouncement of the appeal judgment in the case of the Specialist Prosecutor v. Salih Mustafa at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers court in The Hague, Netherlands, 14 December 2023. Phil Nijhuis/Pool via REUTERS

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Appeals judges at the Kosovo tribunal in The Hague confirmed on Thursday the conviction of a former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrilla commander who ran a torture prison during Kosovo's 1998-99 conflict with Serbia, but reduced his sentence.

Salih Mustafa, 51, received a 26-year prison sentence in December 2022 when convicted of war crimes including murder and torture. The appeals judges on Thursday confirmed his conviction for the war crimes of arbitrary detention, torture and murder, but reduced his prison sentence to 22 years.