Hague court sentences Hashim Thaçi to 25 years for Kosovo war crimes

Hashim Thaçi, the former president of Kosovo and wartime political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, was sentenced on 16 September to 25 years in prison for war crimes committed during the 1998-99 conflict with Serbia. The judgment came from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, an EU-backed court sitting in The Hague. Thaçi is 58. He stood in a suit and remained silent while Presiding Judge Charles Smith read the sentence.

The panel convicted him of four war-crimes counts: the murder of 96 people, the torture of 303 detainees, cruel treatment of 49 people and the arbitrary detention of 385. Judges said Thaçi and three co-defendants took part in a joint criminal enterprise that targeted perceived opponents. Some of the victims were Kosovo Albanians labelled collaborators or traitors. Others belonged to ethnic minorities. In most cases, the court found no evidence that those people had committed crimes, taken part in hostilities or posed a legitimate security threat to the KLA.

Smith said Thaçi actively participated in and encouraged the crimes, promoted people involved in them, and “showed a ruthless ability to remove and eliminate political impediments” to his leadership and that of other commanders. Six counts of crimes against humanity were dismissed. The judges said prosecutors had not proved that the acts formed part of a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population as a whole.

The three co-defendants received long terms as well. Jakup Krasniqi was sentenced to 25 years. Kadri Veseli received 18 years, including time already served. Rexhep Selimi received 13 years, also including time in custody. All four have maintained their innocence. Appeals are expected. Thaçi still faces a separate case on witness intimidation. His brother Gani told reporters the family is waiting for the appeal.

Thaçi resigned the presidency nearly six years ago to answer the indictment. The Specialist Chambers were created because Kosovo’s own courts were not trusted to try KLA commanders. The process has been deeply unpopular at home. Crowds gathered in Pristina on sentencing day to demand an acquittal. Outside the Hague courtroom there were scuffles between supporters and Dutch police. For many Kosovo Albanians, Thaçi remains the face of the independence war. For the court, he is a commander who used detention, torture and killing to settle scores inside his own camp as well as against Serbs.

The 1998-99 war ended after a NATO bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. War crimes were committed by both sides. Serbian forces’ responsibility has been litigated for years at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Specialist Chambers exist to close the other ledger. That imbalance of attention is why the verdict landed as a political event in Pristina and Tirana, not only as a legal one in The Hague.

Confirmation of the sentence, if appeals fail, would keep Thaçi in custody well into the 2040s. It would also set a marker for other wartime commanders still at large or untried. The court’s split finding, war crimes proved and crimes against humanity not proved, will be parsed in the appeals briefs. The numbers in the judgment are the part that will travel: 96 dead, 303 tortured, 385 held without due process, and a 25-year term for the man who later became president of the state that war created.