Former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Pjetër Shala has been sentenced by the Special Court to 18 years of imprisonment for war crimes. The Specialist Chambers in The Hague found Shala guilty of arbitrary detention, torture and unlawful killing. In the decision of the trial body for imprisonment of 18 years, the time spent in detention will be counted.

In the judgment announced on Tuesday by the president of the court, Mappie Veldt Foglia, the punishment for each point of the accusation is specified.

Pjeter Shala tried to speak, but his microphone did not turn on as the judge emphasized that this session is not for the statement of the accused. Afterwards, the session went live with edited content.

The former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army was found guilty of the following counts of the indictment: count 1. arbitrary detention, count 3. torture, count 4 unlawful killing.

Shala has been found not guilty of cruel treatment.

The Specialist Prosecutor's Office requested that the sentence be 28 years of imprisonment.

In this trial, the SPO called 10 witnesses to testify, while the Victims' Defender called two witnesses, and the Defense 10 witnesses.

The trial against Shala began on February 21, 2023. Shala pleaded not guilty to four counts of indictment - arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and unlawful killing.

According to the indictment, Pjetër Shala and several soldiers, policemen and guards of the KLA between May 17, 1999 and June 5, 1999 "participated in arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and in one case in the illegal killing of a detainee in the metal factory in Kukës, Albania". Shala was arrested in March 2021 in Belgium and was transferred to detention in The Hague in April of that year./Sh. Pajaziti