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| |  | | Fatmir Limaj | | | context : | Former Yugoslavia  | | judgement place : | ICTY (Yugoslavia) | | status : | Acquitted | | particulars : | On 30 November 2005, acquitted on all charges; motion of appeal filed by the Prosecution on 29 March 2006; acquittal upheld by the Appeals Chamber on 27 September 2007; investigations underway in Serbia concerning war crimes | | position : | Commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army |
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| | | | The trial of Fatmir Limaj, Isak Musliu and Haradin Bala is the first to be held by the ICTY against members of the UCK ( Kosovo Liberation Army). The judgement of 30 November 2005 is the first to be handed down by the Tribunal relating to crimes alleged to have been committed in Kosovo.
In the judgment, the Trial Chamber specified a few points of international humanitarian law:
- the threshold of the conflict:
“The test for determining the existence of an armed conflict was set out in the Tadic Jurisdiction Decision and has been applied consistently by the Tribunal since:
'An armed conflict exists whenever there is a resort to armed force between States or protracted armed violence between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups within a State.'
Under this test, in establishing the existence of an armed conflict of an internal character the Chamber must assess two criteria: (i) the intensity of the conflict and (ii) the organisation of the parties.” (Limaj et al., Trial Chamber, November 30, 2005, para. 84)
- assessing the intensity of the conflict:
“[I]n assessing the intensity of a conflict, other Chambers have considered factors such as the seriousness of attacks and whether there has been an increase in armed clashes, the spread of clashes over territory and over a period of time, any increase in the number of government forces and mobilisation and the distribution of weapons among both parties to the conflict, as well as whether the conflict has attracted the attention of the United Nations Security Council, and, whether any resolutions on the matter have been passed.” (Limaj et al., Trial Chamber, November 30, 2005, para. 90)
- crimes against humanity:
“To qualify as crimes against humanity the acts of an accused must be part of a widespread or systematic attack ‘directed against any civilian population.’” (Limaj et al., Trial Chamber, November 30, 2005, para. 181)
- torture need not be physical:
“[T]here [is no] requirement that the act or omission . . . caused a physical injury, as mental harm is a prevalent form of inflicting torture.” (Limaj et al., Trial Chamber, November 30, 2005, para. 236) | |    | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Albania | | | date of birth : | | | 04.02.1971 | | | also known as : | | | Çeliku | | | period of charges : | | | 05.1998 - 08.1998 | | | judgement period : | | | 15.11.2004 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 22.07.2008 |
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