Mirror reports on Hashim Thaçi’s conviction and the court’s decision

Kosovo’s former president, Hashim Thaçi, has been found guilty of war crimes, including murder and torture.

According to the British newspaper Mirror, the 58-year-old has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for four charges related to war crimes committed during Kosovo’s struggle for independence from Serbia. Thaçi had stepped down from his post nearly six years ago to face these charges.

The verdict was issued by a trial panel of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, Netherlands. Thaçi was convicted of murder, torture, cruel treatment, and arbitrary detention, acts linked to the period when he served as a senior commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the 1990s.

Dressed in a suit and tie, Thaçi stood silently as the presiding judge, Charles Smith, announced the sentence. He has the right to appeal the decision. According to Mr. Smith, Thaçi used his ‘position, leadership, authority, and stance’ to incite the commission of crimes.

However, the American judge stressed that the trial was not about the legitimacy of the Kosovo Liberation Army or its ultimate goal of securing independence for Kosovo. At that time, Kosovo was a province of Serbia.

Three other former KLA leaders, who had fought against Serbian forces during the 1998-1999 war, were also tried on similar war crimes charges.

The trial panel acquitted all four defendants of six charges of crimes against humanity, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove the acts were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians. For Thaçi and the three other defendants, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi, prosecutors had sought the maximum sentence of 45 years in prison.

All the accused denied the allegations against them. Kadri Veseli was sentenced to 18 years, Rexhep Selimi to 13 years, and Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years. All four were found guilty of war crimes: arbitrary and unlawful detention of 385 people, torture of 303 people, cruel treatment of 49 people, and the murder of 96 political opponents.