International judges in The Hague convicted former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders of crimes including murder, torture, persecution and unlawful detention committed during the 1998-1999 conflict.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison after an international tribunal in The Hague found him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity involving the murder, torture, persecution and unlawful detention of hundreds of people during the Kosovo conflict.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers delivered its verdict Sept. 16 against Thaci and three other former senior Kosovo Liberation Army leaders — Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi — following a trial that lasted three years.
All four men had denied the charges.
Judge Charles Smith III, an American and former Iowa judge, said Thaci was found responsible for the illegal and arbitrary arrest and detention of 385 people, cruel treatment involving 49 people, the torture of 303 people and the murder of 96 people.
Smith imposed a 25-year sentence on Thaci and ordered that he receive credit for the time he has already spent in custody.
Krasniqi was also sentenced to 25 years. Veseli received an 18-year sentence, while Selimi was sentenced to 13 years.
Prosecutors had sought 45-year prison terms for each of the four defendants, the maximum sentence requested in the case.
The convictions stem from the period when the Kosovo Liberation Army was fighting Serbian forces in 1998 and 1999 as ethnic Albanian Kosovans sought independence from Serbian rule.
Prosecutors, led by former U.S. federal prosecutor Kimberly West, alleged that Thaci and the other senior KLA figures targeted people regarded as political opponents, collaborators or traitors. Victims were subjected to detention, physical abuse, torture and killing, according to the prosecution.
Smith described some of the treatment during Wednesday’s reading of the verdict.
“Some individuals were arrested and detained together with family members, and had to hear and witness the treatment of, and killing of their family members,” Smith said.
“Other individuals faced a heightened degree of vulnerability because of their old age. For example, a 70-year-old man was severely beaten to the extent that his face was ‘smashed up’ and covered in blood.”
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers was established to prosecute alleged offenses committed in Kosovo between Jan. 1, 1998, and Dec. 31, 2000, involving citizens of Kosovo or the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Although the court operates in The Hague and is staffed by international judges and prosecutors, it was established under Kosovo law. Its financing has come from the European Union, Norway, Switzerland and the United States, with the EU providing most of its roughly 100 million-euro, or approximately $115 million, budget.
Thaci, 58, was among the best-known figures to emerge from the Kosovo Liberation Army.
He returned from political exile in Switzerland in 1998 and joined the armed campaign against Serbian rule. As political director of the KLA, he participated in peace negotiations in France in 1999 as international efforts intensified to end the conflict.
The fighting developed after years of worsening tensions between Kosovo’s predominantly ethnic Albanian population and Serbia.
In April 1999, NATO accused the government of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic of pursuing a “deliberate policy of oppression, ethnic cleansing and violence.”
NATO subsequently conducted a 78-day bombing campaign against Milosevic’s government and military forces. Milosevic accepted peace terms June 10, 1999, agreeing to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo and permit the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.
Thaci later entered electoral politics and became Kosovo’s president in 2016.
His political career ended abruptly in November 2020 after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers confirmed an indictment against him.
Thaci resigned as president on Nov. 5, 2020, saying he was stepping aside “to protect the integrity of the state.” He was arrested and transferred to the Netherlands, where he remained in detention as the case moved toward trial.
During a court appearance in February, Thaci defended his record and portrayed his actions during the Kosovo conflict as part of a broader struggle for freedom.
“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 the judges.
The tribunal ultimately rejected his defense on the charges for which he was convicted.
Wednesday’s judgment followed years of controversy in Kosovo over the prosecution of former KLA leaders, many of whom remain prominent symbols of the country’s independence struggle.
Thousands of people gathered in the capital, Pristina, during the weekend before the ruling to demonstrate support for Thaci and his co-defendants.
Images of the four men appeared in murals throughout the city, while a large digital clock counted down to the verdict, which was delivered at 10 a.m. local time Wednesday.
“In the name of the people, declare them innocent,” read one banner displayed in Pristina.
The public support reflected the sharply different ways the defendants are viewed inside and outside Kosovo. To many ethnic Albanian Kosovans, senior KLA figures remain associated with resistance to Serbian rule. The tribunal, however, was tasked with determining individual criminal responsibility for offenses committed during that struggle rather than judging the broader political objective of independence.
Kosovo formally declared independence in 2008. The United States and many other Western countries recognize it as an independent state, while Serbia continues to reject Kosovo’s sovereignty.
Relations between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority and its Serb minority have periodically remained tense. Clashes occurred in 2023 and 2024, though the situation later became calmer.
The Specialist Chambers continued operating despite changes in international financial support. After President Donald Trump announced in January 2025 that the United States would stop certain contributions to Kosovo, the court was reported to have been largely unaffected because most of its budget comes from the European Union. U.S. assistance had mainly covered the prosecutor’s salary.
Wednesday’s judgment represents the culmination of one of the tribunal’s most significant prosecutions, involving a former head of state and three other senior figures from the organization that led Kosovo’s armed independence struggle.
For Thaci, the ruling closes a chapter that took him from political exile to guerrilla leadership, international peace negotiations and Kosovo’s presidency before ending with a conviction in The Hague and a 25-year prison sentence.
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