Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) member Pjeter Shala saw his conviction upheld but the sentence reduced from 18 to 13 years, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers tribunal in The Hague said on Monday.

The tribunal, staffed by international judges and lawyers, was set up in 2015 to handle cases under Kosovo law against fighters of the KLA.

The court said Shala’s original sentencing was “out of reasonable proportion to comparable cases.”

Shala was convicted in 2024 of war crimes during the during the 1998-99 Kosovo uprising against Serbian troops.

He was found guilty of torture, murder and arbitrary detention, which he committed as he ran a makeshift prison where people considered to be spies or collaborators with Serbs were housed.