On 10 September 2024, the Court of Appeals Panel in the case of the Specialist Prosecutor v. Salih Mustafa imposed in relation to Mr. Mustafa’s convictions for the war crimes of arbitrary detention, torture and murder sentences of respectively eight, 13 and 15 years of imprisonment and an overall sentence of 15 years with credit for the time served.
The Appeals Panel was composed of Judges Michèle Picard, Kai Ambos and Nina Jørgensen. It issued its decision on a new determination of Mr Mustafa’s sentence pursuant to Rule 194(1)(b) of the Rules. The Decision followed the guidance of the Supreme Court Panel’s decision of 29 July 2024 on Mr Mustafa’s request for protection of legality in which it annulled Mr Mustafa’s sentence of 22 years of imprisonment and returned the matter to the Appeals Panel.
The decision can be found on the KSC’s website.
Case History:
Salih Mustafa was arrested and transferred to the Detention Unit of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on 24 September 2020.
On 16 December 2022, the Trial Panel pronounced its judgment, finding Mr. Mustafa guilty of the war crimes of arbitrary detention, torture and murder and sentencing him to a prison sentence of 26 years. When pronouncing the judgment, the Trial Panel emphasized that the charges in this case related solely to the individual criminal responsibility of Mr. Mustafa. Noting that the victims in this case were Kosovo Albanians, the Trial Panel further emphasized that, “their efforts to seek justice and truth lies at the heart of these proceedings”.
On 6 April 2023, the Trial Panel ordered an overall sum of €207,000 in reparations for the 8 participating victims in this case. Mr Mustafa appealed the judgment and the sentence imposed by the Trial Panel.
On 14 December 2023, the Court of Appeals Panel dismissed Mr Mustafa’s challenges to the Trial Judgment, while granting in part his challenge to the sentence. Accordingly, the Appeals Panel reduced Mr Mustafa’s overall single sentence from 26 years to 22 years of imprisonment.
Mr Mustafa challenged the judgment of the Appeals Chamber in a request for protection of legality before the Supreme Court Panel.
On 29 July 2024, the Supreme Court Panel granted his request, in part, and annulled the appeal judgment insofar as it related to Mr Mustafa’s sentence of 22 years of imprisonment. The Supreme Court Panel returned it back to the Appeals Panel in accordance with Rule 194(1)(b) of the Rules to consider reducing his sentence in light of the reasoning set out in the decision of the Supreme Court Panel.
