Former guerrilla turned politician Sami Lushtaku is cleared of obstructing justice and intimidating witnesses in his trial for war crimes – of which he was cleared in 2017.
Laurant Berisha 
Former guerrilla turned politician Sami Lushtaku is cleared of obstructing justice and intimidating witnesses in his trial for war crimes – of which he was cleared in 2017.
The defendants celebrate the acquittal at Pristina Basic Court, July 28, 2026. Photo: BIRN.
Pristina Basic Court cleared local wartime commander Sami Lushtaku and seven others on Tuesday of obstruction of justice, witness intimidation and participation in a criminal group.
Sami Lushtaku, a commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, for the region of Drenica, was accused of having from 2013 until 2015 forced two defendants to change their testimonies in the so-called Drenica case, in which Lushtaku and other KLA commanders from the Drenica region were accused of committing war crimes.
Lushtaku was not present when the judge announced the verdict, which was applauded by the public in the courtroom.
“The court could not find any convincing evidence which would prove the guilt of the defendants,” Judge Leon Perlaska said, reading the verdict. “The court assessed the testimony of the witness codenamed ‘Witness C’ where he denied that he was forced to change his statement,” Perlaska added.
Lushtaku, now mayor of the Kosovo town of Skenderaj/Srbica, was sentenced in 2015 to 12 years in prison by the Basic Court in Mitrovica for a murder committed in 1998, although the victim’s name was unknown and no body was found.
He was cleared on appeal in 2016 but his conviction for “command responsibility for allegedly violating the [bodily] integrity and health of an undefined number of civilian Albanians held at the Likovc detention centre” was upheld.
His sentence was reduced from 12 to seven years in prison by the Appeals Court. He was cleared by the Supreme Court in July 2017.
