13-year prison sentence for Muhamet Alidemaj overturned, case sent back for retrial

The Kosovo Court of Appeals – Special Department upheld the appeals filed by Muhamet Alidemaj and his defense lawyer. It also overturned, on its own initiative, judgment PS.nr.49/25 of the Basic Court in Pristina – Special Department, dated 02.02.2026, and sent the case back for retrial. Alidemaj will remain in pretrial detention until the first-instance court issues its next decision.

In the overturned judgment, the Basic Court in Pristina – Special Department had found Alidemaj guilty of the criminal offense of war crimes against the civilian population, committed jointly with others, under Article 142 in conjunction with Article 22 of the Criminal Law of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The offense was classified as a war crime involving a serious violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, under Article 146 in conjunction with Article 31 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo. He had been sentenced to 13 (thirteen) years in prison. The time he had spent in pretrial detention from 30.03.2021 until the judgment became final was to be credited toward his sentence, but not beyond the length of the sentence imposed.

After reviewing the judgment, the Court of Appeals found that the shortcomings identified in its earlier ruling had not been corrected during the retrial, for which the case had been returned for retrial and a new decision. According to the court, these violations affected the legality of the judgment and made it necessary to overturn it again.

The judicial panel found that the judgment contained substantial violations of criminal procedure. The first-instance court had not explained the decisive facts concerning Alidemaj’s specific actions and contribution to the jointly committed offense. It had assessed only the statements of three witnesses, leaving other evidence presented during the trial unexamined, both individually and in relation to the other evidence. Nor had it given reasons for its assessment of the defense’s evidence and arguments. The Court of Appeals therefore directed the first-instance court, in the retrial, to assess each piece of evidence separately and alongside the other evidence, explaining which facts it considers proven or unproven and the reasons for its conclusions.