KEY POINTS
- Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes.
- The court found Thaci and three co defendants responsible for multiple war crimes involving hundreds of people.
- The verdicts are subject to appeal.
- Three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders received sentences ranging from 13 to 25 years.
- The verdict triggered protests and criticism in Kosovo.
MAIN STORY
Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague after being found criminally responsible for war crimes committed during the Kosovo conflict.
The court said its Trial Panel found Thaci and three co defendants responsible for arbitrary detention involving 385 people, cruel treatment involving 49 people, torture involving 303 people and the murder of 96 people.
The verdicts are not final and can be appealed.
Thaci, 58, had previously maintained that he was “completely innocent”. He showed no visible emotion as presiding judge Charles Smith read the verdict.
Prosecutors had sought a 45 year prison sentence for Thaci over crimes committed during the late 1990s.
The three year trial involved nearly 300 witnesses and 155 victims. Prosecutors alleged that Thaci and his co defendants were part of the leadership of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought Serbian forces during the conflict.
The judge stressed that the proceedings were focused on the individual criminal responsibility of the defendants and not on the objectives or methods of the KLA.
Kadri Veseli was sentenced to 18 years, while Rexhep Selimi received 13 years and Jakup Krasniqi was sentenced to 25 years.
The court did not take several other allegations, including crimes against humanity, into account in the verdict because it found the evidence insufficient.
Thaci held several senior political positions in Kosovo between 2008 and 2020, serving as prime minister, foreign minister and president. He resigned as president to face the proceedings in The Hague.
All four defendants had held senior positions in the KLA and later occupied prominent political positions in Kosovo.
The KLA fought from 1998 to 1999 for the independence of predominantly Albanian Kosovo from Serbia. The conflict ended after NATO intervention and the withdrawal of Serbian forces.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers were established in 2015 as a separate judicial institution within Kosovo’s legal system, with international judges and prosecutors. The court operates from The Hague for security reasons.
The verdict drew strong reactions in Kosovo, where thousands of people followed the proceedings on public screens.
Kosovo Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca criticised the decision, while the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, which Thaci founded after the war, also condemned the verdict.
The party said the allegations and evidence against the former KLA leaders had been promoted through Serbian propaganda to criminalise the KLA.
Protests were also held in The Hague, where several hundred Kosovars demonstrated against the trial and verdicts. Dutch news agency ANP reported that some protesters threw stones at security forces before police used tear gas to disperse them.
THE ISSUES
- The verdict establishes prison sentences for four former KLA leaders over war crimes involving detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder. However, the convictions are not final because the defendants can appeal.
- The court distinguished between the KLA’s broader wartime objectives and the individual conduct of the defendants. The judge said the proceedings were concerned specifically with individual criminal responsibility.
- The case has significant political resonance in Kosovo because Thaci and the other defendants moved from senior positions in the KLA to prominent roles in the country’s political leadership after the war.
- The ruling has also exposed divisions over how the Kosovo conflict should be remembered and judged, with supporters of the former KLA leaders rejecting the allegations while the court assessed evidence concerning specific alleged crimes.
WHAT’S BEING SAID
“It is a sad, unjust, and undeserved decision.” – Glauk Konjufca, Kosovo Foreign Minister
“A devastating verdict for Kosovo and for our war of liberation.” – Glauk Konjufca, Kosovo Foreign Minister
“The individual criminal responsibility of the defendants.” – Charles Smith, presiding judge
WHAT’S NEXT
The verdicts can be appealed, meaning the legal proceedings against Thaci and his three co defendants are not yet concluded.
BOTTOM LINE
Thaci and three former KLA leaders have received lengthy prison sentences after the Hague court found them responsible for war crimes committed during the Kosovo conflict. The convictions remain subject to appeal.
