Today, in the District Court of Pristina, a mixed panel composed of a Kosovo judge and two EULEX judges issued the following verdict in the war crime trial in the so called “Llapi group” case:

L.G. was found guilty of war crimes through inhumane treatment of civilian detainees and war crimes through beating and torture of civilian detainees. L.G. was sentenced to serve 6 years in prison.

N.M. was found guilty of war crimes through inhumane treatment of civilian detainees and war crimes through beating and torture of civilian detainees. N.M. was sentenced to serve 3 years in prison.

R.M. was found guilty of war crimes through inhumane treatment of civilian detainees and war crimes through beating and torture of civilian detainees. R.M. was sentenced to serve 4 years in prison.

The charges were as follows:

Count 5 - From October 1998 until late April 1999, L.G., N.M. and R.M., acting in concert with other unidentified individuals and pursuant to a joint criminal enterprise, ordered and participated in the establishment and perpetuation of the inhumane treatment of the Kosovo Albanian civilians detained in the detention center located at Llapashtica/Lapaštica, by housing those civilian detainees inhumane conditions, depriving them of adequate sanitation, food and water, and necessary medical treatment. The inhumane treatment of the civilian detainees caused immense suffering and was a violation of the bodily integrity and health of those detainees and constituted an application of measures of intimidation and terror.

Count 8 - From October of 1998 until late April 1999, L.G., N.M. and R.M, acting in concert with other unidentified individuals and pursuant to a joint criminal enterprise, ordered and participated in the beating and torture of Kosovo Albanian Civilians detained in the detention centre located at Llapashtica/Lapaštica, in an attempt to force those detainees to confess to acts of disloyalty to the KLA.

Count 9 - From May 1999 until mid June 1999 L.G., N.K. (now deceased) and R.M., acting in concert with other unidentified individuals and pursuant to a joint criminal enterprise, ordered and participated in the beating and torture of Kosovo Albanian civilians detained in the detention centre located in Koliq/Koljic in an attempt to force those detainees to confess to acts of disloyalty to the KLA. [Prosecutor asked this to withdraw]

Count 14 - From 2 August 1998 until late September 1998 N.M and R.M, acting in concert with other unidentified individuals and pursuant to a joint criminal enterprise, ordered and participated in the beating and torture of M.S, a Serbian forest ranger who they detained in detention centres located at Bare, Bajgora and other surrounding locations within the Llap Zone in an attempt to force him to confess to acts against the KLA or to provide intelligence information.

On 7 July 2009, the re-trial against L.G., N.M. and R.M. started at the District Court of Pristina. The evidentiary proceedings of the re-trial lasted for twelve hearings. The case was prosecuted by a EULEX prosecutor.

The case was investigated during 2001 to 2002 and went to trial the first time in 2003 where verdicts were entered and sentences imposed. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Kosovo in 2005 required the retrial and resentencing.