The Hague – Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was found guilty of war crimes, including murder, torture, and illegal detention, by the Kosovo war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Wednesday. The tribunal sentenced the 58-year-old former commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to 25 years in prison for crimes committed during the territory’s secession from Serbia in the 1990s.
The court determined that Thaci was responsible for the murder of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators with Serbian security forces by KLA forces. He was also convicted for the arbitrary illegal detention of 385 individuals, the torture of 303 people, and the cruel treatment of 49 others. The tribunal emphasized that none of the victims were active participants in hostilities at the time the crimes occurred.
Presiding judge Charles Smith stated that Thaci actively participated in and encouraged crimes as part of a joint criminal enterprise. "The plan was as simple as it was harmful. In particular, it entailed: setting up detention facilities in all areas controlled by the KLA; identifying individuals perceived as opposing the KLA; and arresting and detaining them and, if necessary, killing them," Smith explained. He added that victims were held in inhumane conditions, subjected to beatings, and given insufficient food or medical care.
Thaci, who maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, stood in silence as the verdict and sentence were delivered. He has the right to appeal the decision.
The ruling was closely monitored in Kosovo and Serbia, regions where the legacy of the 1998-99 conflict and Kosovo’s subsequent declaration of independence in 2008 continue to be sensitive issues.
In The Hague, scuffles broke out between a group of Thaci supporters and police as demonstrators attempted to approach the tribunal. In Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, hundreds gathered in protest following the verdict, with a significant police presence deployed throughout the city. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama voiced his criticism of the verdict on social media.
Prosecutors had initially sought a 45-year sentence for Thaci and three other former KLA commanders. However, the three-judge panel dismissed six charges related to crimes against humanity, finding that prosecutors had not sufficiently demonstrated these crimes occurred as part of widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, based in The Hague, was established in 2015 to prosecute former KLA fighters for alleged wartime and post-war crimes, a move that followed international pressure. The judges noted that the trial proceeded amidst significant witness intimidation, with instances of witnesses recanting statements, lying to the court, or altering their previous accounts.