Courtside: Mustafa Trial

Commander Rustem Mustafa - nicknamed Remi - went on trial with three other former KLA soldiers charged with mistreating other ethnic Albanians in 1998 and 1999.

The charge accuses Remi - who established a reputation as one of the KLA's outstanding military commanders - of mistreating men who he suspected of being informers for the Serbs.

Remi, along with his subordinates Latif Gashi, Nazif Mehmeti and Naim Kadriu, is accused of kidnapping, beating and torture. He and two of the others are also charged with ordering and participating in the killing of some of the suspected collaborators.

Several protests against the trial have been held in recent months in the Kosovo capital, and special United Nations police in body armour and armed with automatic rifles guarded the building when the proceedings got underway.

Remi carved out a reputation as an efficient general when placed in command of KLA units fighting in the Llap region, scene of some of the war's fiercest battles on Kosovo's northern border.

After the conflict ended, he became a commander in the Kosovo Protection Corps, KPC, comprised of KLA veterans but dedicated to non-military duties such as civil emergencies and search and rescue operations.

He was dismissed from the corps last year after he was named in a list of 22 ethnic Albanians judged by the United States as presenting a threat to peace in the region.

The names were released following suspicions that some former KLA members were aiding ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting in neighbouring Macedonia.

War crimes trials in Kosovo have a patchy record. Most proceedings are administrated by ethnic Albanians, and concentrate on crimes allegedly committed by Serbs. A 2002 report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, said that more than half of the Serbs convicted by such courts were later released by appeal panels featuring international judges.

In December, five former KLA members were jailed for abducting and beating four fellow ethnic Albanians who are missing, presumed murdered. None of the convicted men were accused of war crimes as such, but the trial was seen by many as an important step towards bringing justice to the region.

Chris Stephen is IWPR's bureau chief in The Hague.