Kosovo ex-President Thaci receives 25-year war crimes sentence

A European Union-backed court in The Hague convicted former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci of war crimes on Wednesday and sentenced him to 25 years in prison, a landmark ruling against one of Kosovo’s best-known wartime and political figures.

Thaci, 58, was convicted by judges at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers of murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention committed during Kosovo’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia. Wearing a suit and tie, he stood in silence as Presiding Judge Charles Smith read out the sentence, NPR reported.

The former president had faced multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and persecution, alongside three other former leaders of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army: Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi. All four men have denied the charges. Prosecutors had asked the court to impose 45-year prison sentences on each of them.

According to prosecutors, the men targeted political opponents and civilians they perceived as collaborators and traitors during their time in the KLA, a separatist militia that fought Serbian forces. Thaci’s defense argued there was no evidence directly linking him to the alleged crimes.

“There are no orders in the record from Thaci to perpetrators of crimes. There are no reports from perpetrators of crimes to Thaci,” his lawyer, Luka Misetic, told judges in February, according to Al Jazeera.

Thaci also addressed the court in February at the end of his nearly three-year trial. “Throughout my life, I stood with the people of Kosovo defending freedom, life and dignity. I was always guided by the Western ideals of democracy, equality and justice,” he told judges, according to NPR.

The case has drawn intense attention in Kosovo, where Thaci and other former KLA commanders are widely regarded by many ethnic Albanians as national heroes for their role in the war. Tens of thousands of people rallied in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, over the weekend to call for their acquittal. Many carried red and black Albanian flags. Portraits of the four former KLA fighters have been displayed across the city, along with a large digital clock counting down to the verdicts.

“In the name of the people, declare them innocent,” one banner read.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers is staffed largely by international personnel because of concerns about witness safety and security. In 2022, the court convicted two leaders of a Kosovo war veterans’ association for intimidating witnesses by publicizing leaked confidential documents. NPR reported that Thaci also faces a separate trial on charges of intimidating witnesses, set to begin later this month.

Thaci resigned as president nearly six years ago to face the charges in The Hague. Before his rise to political power, he had returned from what he described as political exile in Switzerland to join Kosovo’s independence struggle. During the conflict, he earned the nickname “the Snake” for his ability to evade Serb forces, and Western leaders later invited him to the 1999 peace talks in France as the KLA’s political director.

Most of the 13,000 people who died in the Kosovo war were ethnic Albanians. The fighting ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian forces, and about 1 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars were driven from their homes.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade refuses to recognize it. Relations between the two remain tense despite years of negotiations mediated by the European Union and supported by the United States.