Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has been handed a 25-year prison sentence after a special tribunal in The Hague found him guilty of war crimes committed during Kosovo’s conflict with Serbia in the 1990s.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) convicted Thaci, 58, on four war-crimes counts linked to his role as a senior commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the armed struggle for Kosovo’s independence.
The court found him responsible for crimes that included murder, torture and unlawful detention. Prosecutors had accused the KLA leadership of targeting political opponents and people considered to have collaborated with Serbian security forces.
Thaci, who previously served as Kosovo’s president, rejected the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He remained silent as Presiding Judge Charles Smith delivered the sentence at the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
Three other former senior KLA commanders were also convicted and sentenced in the same proceedings.
Jakup Krasniqi received a 25-year prison term, while Kadri Veseli was sentenced to 18 years, with the period he has already spent in detention taken into account. Rexhep Selimi was handed a 13-year sentence, also taking into consideration his time in custody.
The tribunal said the four former commanders have the right to appeal the convictions and sentences. However, the court acquitted all four men on six charges of crimes against humanity. The judges said the prosecution had not established beyond the required legal standard that the alleged crimes formed part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians.
The case centres on the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict, which ended following an international military intervention and ultimately led to Kosovo declaring independence from Serbia in 2008.
The proceedings against Thaci and his former KLA colleagues have been among the most significant war-crimes cases arising from the conflict.
