Trial of former Kosovo rebel commander starts in Hague court

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A court set up in The Hague to prosecute crimes from Kosovo’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia has opened its first trial. The defendant is a former rebel commander who faces charges including murder and torture. Salih Mustafa was arrested a year ago in Kosovo and sent to the Netherlands to stand trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. Mustafa is charged with the war crimes of arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, the torture of at least six people and the murder of one person at a detention compound in Kosovo in April 1999. Mustafa pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing. His trial opened Wednesday with the presiding judge reading out his indictment.