Priština: KLA commanders’ trial begins

The trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders accused of torturing and killing civilians in two detention camps in Albania started in Pristina. Defendants Sabit Geci and Riza Alija have pleaded not guilty. Pristina: KLA commanders’ trial begins 52-year-old Geci and two years younger Alija were arrested last year and their names are mentioned in Council of Europe (CoE) Rapporteur Dick Marty’s report on human organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania. British Judge Jonathan Welford is presiding over the trial chamber, France-Presse reported. According to the indictment, the camps in Albania were “logistics, training and supply centers” but Geci and Alija were also using them to keep civilians in “dirty and unhealthy conditions”. The prisoners were regularly beaten with nightsticks, kicked, tortured and humiliated, it is said in the indictment. It has been announced that about 20 protected witnesses will testify by the end of June.

Priština: KLA commanders’ trial begins

52-year-old Geci and two years younger Alija were arrested last year and their names are mentioned in Council of Europe (CoE) Rapporteur Dick Marty’s report on human organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania.

British Judge Jonathan Welford is presiding over the trial chamber, France-Presse reported.

According to the indictment, the camps in Albania were “logistics, training and supply centers” but Geci and Alija were also using them to keep civilians in “dirty and unhealthy conditions”.

The prisoners were regularly beaten with nightsticks, kicked, tortured and humiliated, it is said in the indictment.

It has been announced that about 20 protected witnesses will testify by the end of June.