Wednesday, September 16th – The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, located in The Hague, Netherlands, made a historic decision regarding former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi. Thaçi has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for multiple war crimes committed during the late 1990s Kosovo War.
The court ruled that the 58-year-old Thaçi, while serving as the supreme commander of the Albanian ethnic-based Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), was involved in and promoted a joint criminal enterprise. This enterprise aimed to systematically arrest, detain, torture, and even kill individuals perceived as political opponents of the KLA or Serbian sympathizers by establishing detention facilities in KLA-controlled areas.
Thaçi was found responsible for the following crimes:
Murder:
Killing 96 political opponents and individuals accused of collaborating with the Serbian security forces.
Illegal detention and torture:
Arbitrarily detaining 385 individuals, torturing 303 people, and subjecting 49 individuals to cruel treatment. The court emphasized that the victims were not engaged in hostile actions at the time of their victimization.
Additionally, three other former high-ranking leaders of the KLA were convicted in the same case: former speaker Jakup Krasniqi (sentenced to 25 years), former speaker Kadri Veseli (sentenced to 18 years), and former senior commander Rexhep Selimi (sentenced to 13 years).
It is worth noting that the three-judge panel dismissed the prosecution’s initial charges of crimes against humanity and the request for a 45-year sentence, citing the prosecution’s failure to prove that these crimes constituted large-scale or systematic attacks on civilians.
This verdict has caused significant shockwaves in the Balkan Peninsula. Thaçi is still regarded as a hero by many Albanians in Kosovo. Following the announcement of the verdict, protests erupted in the capital city of Pristina, with hundreds of people taking to the streets. The police deployed riot units, and foreign peacekeeping forces also went on high alert.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama strongly protested on social media, posting a map of Europe surrounded by barbed wire with the Albanian word “Marrë” (meaning “shame” or “unbelievable”), implying an unfair trial of Albanian heroes conducted by the EU-led international court based in The Hague.
Outside the Hague court, hundreds of Thaçi supporters clashed briefly with the authorities.
The judges emphasized that the trial focused on individual criminal acts and did not question the legitimacy of Kosovo’s independence. Furthermore, the trial process was long plagued by significant intimidation of witnesses.
Thaçi has vehemently denied the charges and has indicated that he will appeal. Additionally, he faces a separate lawsuit for alleged witness intimidation.
(This article is based on reports from Reuters and other sources)