"I am innocent. I have said it before and I am saying it today that I am not guilty. I said back in Pristina that you had arrested an innocent person," the 52-year-old man told judges.
Beqaj is charged with contempt, attempted contempt and incitement to contempt of the tribunal. If found guilty, he may be sentenced to a prison term of up to seven years or a fine of 200,000 euros or a combination of the two.
The indictment alleges that from February 17, 2003 to October 19, 2004, Beqaj threatened, intimidated, offered a bribe to or otherwise interfered with witnesses or potential witnesses in the Limaj and others case.
A trial for war crimes committed in the Lapusnik camp, operated by the Kosovo Liberation Army in the late 1990s, is set to start on November 15 as the first trial of Kosovo Albanians before the ICTY.