Kosovo prison guard convicted by UN tribunal to serve rest of jail term in France

A former prison guard for the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who was convicted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal for the murder of nine detainees and the torture of another prisoner will now serve the rest if his 13-year jail sentence in France.

Haradin Bala was transferred yesterday to detention in France, the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced today. France is one of 15 European countries to have signed deals with the tribunal to enforce sentences imposed on convicted individuals.

In November 2005 Mr. Bala was convicted by the ICTY for the torture, murder and cruel treatment of both Serb and Kosovo Albanian civilian prisoners at the KLA-run Lapušnik/Llapushnik camp between May and July 1998. Those convictions were then upheld by the tribunal’s appeals chamber last year.

During Mr. Bala’s trial, the tribunal heard how he had a personal role in maintaining and enforcing the inhumane conditions in the prison camp.