Gnjilane Group trial verdict on Friday

The War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade District Court will deliver on Friday the verdict against nine members of the Gnjilane Group. The group operated as part of the ethnic Albanians so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Gnjilane Group trial verdict on Friday Its members were charged and put on trial for crimes committed against Serb civilians in the easter Kosovo town of Gnjilane in 1999. This will be the Chamber's third verdict against ethnic Albanian terrorists, Tanjug reports. Previously, Anton Lekaj was sentenced to 13 years in prison while Sinan Morina was acquitted. Nearly two years after their arrest, the Chamber headed by Judge Snezana Nikolic Garotic released from custody Ahmet Hasani, Nazif Hasani, Ferat Hajdari, Kamber Sahiti and Burim Fazli at the beginning of January 2011, whereas Faton Hajdari, Samet Hajdari, Selimon Sadiku and Agus Memisi, who were arrested in Presevo (southern Serbia) on December 26, 2008, are still in custody. In the closing statement, the War Crimes Prosecution suggested to the Court to find the defendants guilty, as they were proved to have brutally killed and tortured civilians in Gnjilane in 1999. The defendants were proved to have tortured, killed, raped and inhumanly treated Serb and other non-Albanian civilians, prosecutor Mioljub Vitorovic stated in the closing argument. The defendants are also charged with brutally killing several dozen Serbs, Roma and Albanians in Gnjilane in 1999, whereas 35 Serbs are still listed as missing. According to the indictment, another 153 civilians were arrested, tortured and then released. Fazlija Ajdari, Redzep Aliji and Sacir Saciri, who were staff officers of the KLA operative center for Gnjilane, are charged with ordering these crimes. However, they are at large and are being tried in absentia. According to the indictment, Ajdari, Aliji and Saciri ordered other unit members to arrest Serbs and imprison them in the basement of a boarding high school in Gnjilane where they were tortured and killed, after which their massacred bodies were thrown in dumpsters or in Lake Livoc.

Gnjilane Group trial verdict on Friday

Its members were charged and put on trial for crimes committed against Serb civilians in the easter Kosovo town of Gnjilane in 1999.

This will be the Chamber's third verdict against ethnic Albanian terrorists, Tanjug reports. Previously, Anton Lekaj was sentenced to 13 years in prison while Sinan Morina was acquitted.

Nearly two years after their arrest, the Chamber headed by Judge Snežana Nikolić Garotić released from custody Ahmet Hasani, Nazif Hasani, Ferat Hajdari, Kamber Sahiti and Burim Fazli at the beginning of January 2011, whereas Faton Hajdari, Samet Hajdari, Selimon Sadiku and Agus Memisi, who were arrested in Presevo (southern Serbia) on December 26, 2008, are still in custody.

In the closing statement, the War Crimes Prosecution suggested to the Court to find the defendants guilty, as they were proved to have brutally killed and tortured civilians in Gnjilane in 1999.

The defendants were proved to have tortured, killed, raped and inhumanly treated Serb and other non-Albanian civilians, prosecutor Mioljub Vitorović stated in the closing argument.

The defendants are also charged with brutally killing several dozen Serbs, Roma and Albanians in Gnjilane in 1999, whereas 35 Serbs are still listed as missing.

According to the indictment, another 153 civilians were arrested, tortured and then released.

Fazlija Ajdari, Redzep Aliji and Sacir Saciri, who were staff officers of the KLA operative center for Gnjilane, are charged with ordering these crimes. However, they are at large and are being tried in absentia.

According to the indictment, Ajdari, Aliji and Saciri ordered other unit members to arrest Serbs and imprison them in the basement of a boarding high school in Gnjilane where they were tortured and killed, after which their massacred bodies were thrown in dumpsters or in Lake Livoč.