Salih Mustafa also known by the nickname "Cali", (born 1 January 1972) is a former
Kosovo Albanian war commander of the
Kosovo Liberation Army
The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an Albanians, ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Republic of Serbia (1992–2006), Republic of R ...
(KLA) from the Guerilla BIA unit, which operated in the region of
Gollak,
Zllash during the
Kosovo War
The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...
. He was the former founder and Leader of the Nationalist
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
Party
National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo and the former intelligence chief of the
Kosovo Security Force
The Kosovo Security Force (KSF) is the military of Kosovo. The KSF is tasked with defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo, military support for civilian authorities, and participation in international Peacekeeping, peacekee ...
(KSF) until his indictment in The Hague. In 2022, he was convicted of
war crimes
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
in
Kosovo Special Court and eventually sentenced to a total of 15 years of imprisonment.
Early life and education
Mustafa was born on 1 January 1972 in the city of
Pristina
Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district.
In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...
in
Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
, then part of
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
. He completed studies in economics and following the end of the Kosovo War, he served as an adviser in the Kosovar Ministry of Defence.
Kosovo War
During the
Kosovo War
The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...
, Mustafa served with the KLA as a commander of a guerilla unit operating in the
Llap region of Kosovo. He was a commander in the
Battle of Marec. In 2021, Mustafa was charged for war crimes for acts committed against Kosovo Albanian civilians detained in the detention compound in
Zllash in April 1999.
Trial and conviction
Mustafa was indicted for war crimes by the
Kosovo Specialist Chambers. The indictment charged Mustafa with "
arbitrary detention … cruel treatment … torture … and murder" of civilians in 1999, in particular ordering prisoners to be tortured at an internment camp in
Zllash/Zlas. Mustafa's trial began on 15 September 2021 and was the first heard by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. Prosecutors said that witnesses would testify at the trial that Mustafa had tortured them or had ordered their torture.
In December 2022, he was convicted of the war crimes of
arbitrary detention,
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
, and murder, but not convicted of cruel treatment as the panel considered the allegation to have been subsumed into the charge of torture. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
The verdict and sentence were criticized by some
Kosovan Albanians.
In December 2023, the "Court of appeals chamber" confirmed his convictions and reduced his sentence to 22 years of imprisonment.
On September 10, 2024, the Appeals Panel in its new decision further reduced Mr. Mustafa's sentence to 15 years of imprisonment.
See also
*
List of Albanian rebels
*
List of convicted war criminals
References
Living people
Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers
People indicted by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers
Place of birth missing (living people)
Kosovan people convicted of war crimes
War crimes in the Kosovo War
1972 births
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