Families and supporters of three ex-KLA guerillas who went on the run have blockaded a clinic in Pristina, raising questions about the whereabouts of the fugitives.

Over 50 protestors, led by Mergim Lushtaku, son of Skenderaj mayor Sami Lushtaku and relatives of two other ex-KLA fighters, Ismet Haxha and Sahit Jashari, have seized control of part of the Pristina Clinical Centre.

“We won’t end the protest until our request is met,” Mergim Lushtaku told reporters in front of the clinic on Thursday.

The protesters want the EU law mission, EULEX, to withdraw its decision to transfer the three fugitive detainees – last seen in the hospital – to a prison in the Serb-dominated northern part of Kosovo.

Visitors were not allowed to enter the clinic, where several journalists were attacked previously by relatives of Lushtaku and by war veterans.

Police were seen entering the clinic on Thursday, however, increasing suspicions that the trio might be hiding inside.

But, Lushtaku insisted that he hadn’t seen his father there and the protest was being held there as this was “the place he was last sighted”.

His father and two other former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army cell known as the “Drenica group” went on the run from the clinic on Tuesday after refusing to be transferred to a prison in the northern city of Mitrovica.

The prison authorities in Dubrava had also refused to transfer the defendants to Mitrovica saying it could be dangerous because two high-profile Serbs are being held there.

Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic and retired police colonel Dragoljub Delibasic are in custody in the Mitrovica jail over allegations of involvement in war crimes.

Seven ex-KLA guerillas had been in detention on remand since last May and were initially held in the Dubrava Prison in the Peja/Pec region before being transferred to the Pristina clinic for treatment several weeks ago.

The main trial of the Drenica seven started on Thursday at the Basic Court in the northern part of the divided town of Mitrovica, with only four of the defendants present in court.

Darius Sielitzcki, a EULEX judge issued an arrest warrant for Lushtaku, Haxha and Jashari and divided the case into two sections until the fugitives are re-arrested.

“These accused who are present have shown respect for the rule of law system in Kosovo, while the others showed disrespect by not appearing before the court,” he said.

Lushtaku, the mayor of Skenderaj/Srbice, and the two other ex- KLA fighters from the Drenica Group, are charged with torturing and mistreating prisoners at a KLA detention centre in Likovc/Likovac in 1998./balkaninsight/