Former president of Kosovo jailed for 25 years over war crimes at Hague tribunal
Hashim Thaçi, 58, was sentenced for war crimes including murder, torture and illegal detention, as top commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army.
The former president of Kosovo has been sentenced to 25 years for war crimes including murder, torture and illegal detention.
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Hashim Thaçi, 58, was sentenced for the crimes committed as top commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the now-independent country's break from Serbia in the 1990s.
The tribunal said Thaçi was guilty of the murder of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators with Serbian security forces by Kosovo Liberation Army forces during the conflict.
In Kosovo's capital, Pristina, thousands of people gathered to learn for the conclusion of the trial taking place miles away in the Hague.
Photos and videos of them show many brought to tears as they learned of the verdict.
The KLA was established in the early 1990s as a militant group of ethnic Albanians, in what was then a province of Serbia, and during the war is alleged to have carried out attacks on the region's ethnic Serb minority.
Thaçi became Kosovo's first prime minister when it declared independence in 2008. He later became president but resigned in 2020 to face the charges in The Hague.
Thaçi was facing trial alongside three former commanders of the KLA who faced similar charges. Kadri Veseli to 18 years, Rexhep Selimi to 13 years and Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years in prison, with credit for time already served.
The three of them were found not guilty of the charges of crimes against humanity.
'Not above the law'
Reacting to the convictions for war crimes of Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi by the Kosovo Specialist Chamber, Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, said: “These convictions give hope to thousands of victims of the Kosovo war who have waited for more than two decades to get justice for the horrific crimes committed against them and to know the fate of their loved ones.
“These convictions show that senior officials are not above the law.
“These verdicts give hope that any attempt to obstruct justice, truth and reparation will not be tolerated, and that the victims and relatives of the missing will finally see justice.”
