Haradin Bala

Who is Haradin Bala?

Haradin Bala, also known as “Shala”, is Kosovo-Albanian and former commander of the Albanian militant organization UÇK. Bala was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Serbs and Albanians by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. His trial ended on 30 November 2005 and he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. He was especially convicted of crimes at the Lapušnik prison camp between May and July 1998 and executing orders to kill a certain number of Serbian civilians in the Beriša Mountains on 25 July 1998. The killings took place after the fall of Lapušnik as a result of the Serbian Army advances in Kosovo.