Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague found him criminally responsible for war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 conflict with Serbia.
The court ruled Wednesday that Thaçi, a former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, was responsible as part of a joint criminal enterprise for crimes including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder. According to the judgment, the offences involved hundreds of victims, including 96 people who were murdered.
Thaçi stood trial alongside three other former senior KLA figures — Jakup Krasniqi, Rexhep Selimi and Kadri Veseli. Krasniqi was also sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Veseli received an 18-year sentence and Selimi was sentenced to 13 years.
The four defendants had faced six counts of crimes against humanity and four war crimes charges. The crimes against humanity charges were ultimately dropped after judges found prosecutors had failed to establish the existence of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians, an element required to prove those offences.
The defendants have denied the allegations against them, and the verdicts are expected to be appealed. Thaçi had maintained before the judgment that he expected to be acquitted of all charges.
The ruling triggered strong reactions in Kosovo and Albania. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti defended the historical role of the KLA, saying it emerged in response to oppression and fought for Kosovo’s liberation. He said Kosovo would continue supporting the four defendants during the appeals process.
Thaçi’s family also maintained his innocence, while Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama condemned the judgment. Supporters of the former KLA leaders held demonstrations in Pristina and outside the court in The Hague, where scuffles were reported between some protesters and Dutch police.
Thaçi was indicted in 2020 and resigned as Kosovo’s president that November to face proceedings in The Hague. He has remained in detention there since then. He is also due to face a separate trial later this month involving allegations of witness intimidation.
The verdict revisits one of the most politically sensitive chapters of the Balkan conflicts. The Kosovo war between the KLA and Serbian forces lasted from 1998 until 1999. Serbian forces carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing that displaced more than one million Kosovo Albanians and killed approximately 11,000 people.
The conflict ended in June 1999 following NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslav forces, which ultimately withdrew from Kosovo.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by more than 100 United Nations member states. Serbia continues to reject Kosovo’s independence, and relations between Belgrade and Pristina remain tense despite years of European Union-mediated negotiations.
The Thaçi verdict carries significant political and historical weight in Kosovo, where the KLA is widely associated with the country’s struggle for independence. The court’s judgment addressed the individual criminal responsibility of the defendants for specific wartime offences, while Kosovo’s political leadership has continued to defend the broader KLA campaign as a war of liberation.
