Hashim Thaci ha been found guilty of the murder of 96 political opponents and suspected Serbian collaborators
The former leader of the NATO-backed Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has been found responsible for war crimes committed by the militant group during its NATO-backed campaign to break away from Serbia in the 1990s.
Hashim Thaci, who served as the first president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, has been found guilty of the murder of 96 political opponents and suspected Serbian collaborators, the verdict said. He was also convicted for the unlawful detention and torture of hundreds of people.
The 58-year-old Thaci, who was advised and armed by the US during the break-up of Yugoslavia, was supported in court by some of the same figures, but was nevertheless sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Thaci’s defense argued that senior figures in the KLA could not control rank-and-file separatist fighters and thus could not be held responsible for crimes committed under their leadership. Lawyers described the group as lacking a strict military hierarchy during the 1998-99 conflict. Thaci and three other former KLA leaders who have been tried in The Hague are widely regarded as heroes in Kosovo, though news of the conviction brought hundreds out in violent protest in Pristina.
