The Hague Court Sentences Kosovo Ex-President Hashim Thaci To 25 Years For War Crimes

A European Union-backed court in The Hague convicted former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci of four counts of war crimes committed during Kosovo’s war for independence from Serbia and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

“convicted former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci of four counts of war crimes committed during his country's war for independence from Serbia and sentenced him to 25 years in prison”

NPR

Reuters said the tribunal found Thaci guilty of the murder of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators with Serbian security forces by Kosovo Liberation Army forces during the conflict.

Al Jazeera

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers panel read out the sentence as Thaci, 58, stood in silence wearing a suit and tie, and prosecutors had asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants.

NPR reported that the convictions covered murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention, while Thaci had denied the charges and had resigned from office nearly six years ago to face them.

The verdict came after a three-year trial, with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers convicting Thaci alongside three other former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army who fought Serb forces in the 1998-99 war.

Thousands of people rallied in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, over the weekend in support of the four men, with portraits of the four former KLA fighters plastered across the city along with a huge digital clock counting down to Wednesday’s verdicts.

NPR quoted a banner carried by protesters that read, "In the name of the people, declare them innocent," as the crowd filled a central square.

Al Jazeera

The Associated Press reported that prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, and that all of them denied the charges.

In February, Thaci told judges, "Throughout my life, I stood with the people of Kosovo defending freedom, life and dignity," and NPR said he was guided by Western ideals of democracy, equality and justice.

The Al Jazeera report said the case was contentious within Kosovo, where Thaci remained a revered figure for many Kosovan Albanians due to his role in the 1998-99 independence war, and it described tens of thousands gathering in Pristina to call for acquittal.

The tribunal’s findings attributed to Thaci the murder of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators with Serbian security forces, and Reuters said he was convicted of crimes including murder, torture and illegal detention as top commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army.

“played a key role in formulating and executing the 'common purpose,'”

El Periódico

El Periódico said the Hague tribunal explained that Thaci “played a key role in formulating and executing the 'common purpose,'” including establishing detention centers, identifying people considered opponents of the UCK, arresting and detaining them and, if necessary, killing them.

El Periódico also reported that the verdict ended a macro-trial opened in April 2023, with final allegations concluded last February, and it said more than 29,000 pages of transcripts were accumulated and nearly 300 witnesses testified.

NPR reported that Thaci faces a separate trial on charges of intimidating witnesses that will begin later this month, while prosecutors had requested maximum sentences for Thaci and the other defendants.

The Al Jazeera report said the Kosovo war crimes tribunal will on Wednesday deliver its verdicts in the case of Thaci and several wartime commanders accused of murder and torture during the self-declared republic’s break from Serbia, and it noted that Thaci and the other former high-ranking commanders deny the charges.