Top Kosovar Court Orders War Crimes Retrial

Fatmir Limaj

Kosovo's Supreme Court has ordered a war crimes retrial for Fatmir Limaj, a former Kosovar government minister and prominent politician.

Limaj, a former commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army that fought Serbian rule in 1998-99, was tried on charges of torturing prisoners but acquitted in May.

The European Union's law-enforcing mission in Kosovo, EULEX, said that a Supreme Court panel of EULEX and local judges had annulled that verdict and ordered a retrial after an appeal from prosecutors.

Limaj has also been tried by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague but was acquitted in 2005.

Limaj is a close ally of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.

Last week, EULEX prosecutors charged Limaj and six others with corruption, accusing them of embezzling 2 million euros ($2.55 million).

Based on reporting by dpa and B92