Pjeter Shala, known during wartime by the nom de guerre Commander Wolf, launched his appeal on Thursday and Friday at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague against a guilty verdict for the arbitrary detention and torture of at least 18 wartime detainees and the murder of one prisoner.

The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office and the legal counsel representing the victims’ interests in the trial urged the court to confirm the 18-year sentence.

Shala’s defence lawyer Leto Carioulo told the court on Friday that her client did not have a direct intention to commit the murder of the victim as the prosecution claims, and that “the defence does not accept that Shala was present when the victim was mistreated and when he was shot with a gun”.

She said that a guilty verdict cannot be reached “based on unverified evidence”. She also said that “the sentence should be within the range provided by law from five to 15 [years], and not, as the trial panel determined, 18 years”.

In the first-instance verdict in July 2024, the trial judges found that Shala was “individually criminally responsible as part of a joint criminal enterprise” in the arbitrary detention, torture and murder of prisoners held at the Kukes Metal Faactory, which the Kosovo Liberation Army used as a detention centre during wartime. He had pleaded not guilty on all counts.

The court found that at least 18 people – mainly Kosovo Albanians – were detained, interrogated and physically and psychologically abused at the factory between around May 17, 1999 and June 5, 1999.

Another lawyer for Shala, Jean-Louis Gilissen, claimed on Thursday that the defendant’s rights were violated during the trial, saying that Shala’s statements from 2019 were used in the trial without being verified.

One recording “was lost. We are in a situation where we don’t know anything about what this recording contained,” Gilissen told the court. “The trial panel also took into account Mr. Shala’s silence on several issues, which had a negative effect because the presumption of the client’s innocence was violated,” he added.

“Shala’s sentence is a fair and appropriate reflection of the gravity of the crimes and his role in committing the crimes,” prosecutor Filippo De Minicis said on Friday.

“The trial panel conducted a fair and transparent trial, showing no bias but pragmatism even when it comes to assessing the credibility of witnesses,” he also told the court on Thursday.

Victims’ counsel Simon Laws said meanwhile that “there is no reasonable basis to overturn the verdict” as the judges “set out in detail the basis for their findings”.

‘Intent to kill’

Details of the crimes were outlined at the original trial by presiding judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia before the verdict was announced.

Veldt-Foglia said that “the evidence shows that individuals were apprehended and detained on vague allegations of being traitors, collaborators of Serbian authorities … or not sufficient supporters of the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army], financially, militarily, or politically”.

She noted that “detainees were arrested at their place of residence, streets, upon arrival in Albania from abroad, in refugee camps, or where they were sheltered,” and that Shala was directly involved in the transfer of one of the detainees to Kukes Metal Factory.

“The detainees were beaten until the morning, and were forced to slap one another and pretend to having sexual intercourse with one another,” the judge said, quoting one of the witnesses as testifying: “I don’t know how many times i fainted, they poured water to bring me back and I fainted again, this occurred throughout the night.”

The court confirmed the prosecution’s claims that Shala participated in mistreating the murder victim before and after being shot in the leg. The beating left the victim bruised all over his body, unable to move or urinate, and bleeding from the gunshot.

One of the KLA members did not allow his transfer to hospital despite a doctor’s recommendation. The detainee died on or around June 4-5, 1999, while still in detention at the factory, as a result of the gunshot wound and the beatings.

“Shala possessed the intent to kill,” judge Veldt- Foglia said, noting that he explicitly told one of the detainees: “We are going to kill you.”

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which are trying former KLA guerrillas for wartime and post-war crimes, are part of Kosovo’s judicial system but are located in The Netherlands and staffed by internationals.

The Specialist Chambers were established under pressure from the country’s Western allies who said they suspected that Kosovo’s justice system was not robust enough to try KLA cases and protect witnesses from intimidation.

However, proceedings in The Hague have been marred by a series of witness intimidation claims.

Many Kosovo Albanians believe the court is ethnically biased and denigrates the KLA’s war against Serbian repression, which they deem just.