KLA war crimes suspects remanded in custody

Nine former KLA members, arrested in Presevo on Friday, have been placed in custody for 30 days. A total of ten ethnic Albanians were detained in this southern Serbian town in a series of MUP Zandarmerija (Gendarmerie) raids, on suspicion that they participated in war crimes committed in after the 1999 war in Kosovo. KLA war crimes suspects remanded in custody One of the suspects will be processed in local courts in the south. "After questioning all the suspects, the investigating judge of the War Crimes Chamber has made a decision to start an investigation. The accused are charged with committing war crimes against civilian population," court spokeswoman Ivana Ramic confirmed for B92 this morning. "All the accused have been remanded in custody, considering fear that they could influence witnesses and in this way disrupt the criminal proceedings against them. At the same time, the custody has been set due to the possible sentences they could receive," she explained, and added that another reason for keeping the group in prison was the nature of the circumstances in which the criminal acts were committed. Ahead of the interrogations yesterday, the War Crimes Prosecution requested that the court start an investigation, and provided evidence for its case which charges for a total of 17 former KLA members it believes were involved in the Gnjilane zone kidnappings of 159 Serb and other non-Albanian civilians, and torture, rape, mutilation and vicious killings of at least 51 persons. The nine suspects processed in Belgrade have been named as Nazif Hasani, Ahmet Hasani, Faton Hajdari, Samet Hajdari, Ferat Hajdari, Kamber Sahiti, Agus Memisi, Burim Gazliju and Selimon Sadiki. The Presevo Prosecution is handling the case of Fatmir Sahiti, and he is in detention there. The remaining seven suspects in the same case at this point remain at large.

KLA war crimes suspects remanded in custody

One of the suspects will be processed in local courts in the south.

"After questioning all the suspects, the investigating judge of the War Crimes Chamber has made a decision to start an investigation. The accused are charged with committing war crimes against civilian population," court spokeswoman Ivana Ramić confirmed for B92 this morning.

"All the accused have been remanded in custody, considering fear that they could influence witnesses and in this way disrupt the criminal proceedings against them. At the same time, the custody has been set due to the possible sentences they could receive," she explained, and added that another reason for keeping the group in prison was the nature of the circumstances in which the criminal acts were committed.

Ahead of the interrogations yesterday, the War Crimes Prosecution requested that the court start an investigation, and provided evidence for its case which charges for a total of 17 former KLA members it believes were involved in the Gnjilane zone kidnappings of 159 Serb and other non-Albanian civilians, and torture, rape, mutilation and vicious killings of at least 51 persons.

The nine suspects processed in Belgrade have been named as Nazif Hasani, Ahmet Hasani, Faton Hajdari, Samet Hajdari, Ferat Hajdari, Kamber Sahiti, Agus Memisi, Burim Gazliju and Selimon Sadiki.

The Preševo Prosecution is handling the case of Fatmir Sahiti, and he is in detention there.

The remaining seven suspects in the same case at this point remain at large.