In The Hague, a tribunal has rendered judgment on Hashim Thaci — former guerrilla commander, architect of Kosovo's independence, and once its president — finding him guilty of war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 conflict and sentencing him to 25 years in prison. The court determined that beneath the banner of liberation, specific acts of murder, torture, and illegal detention were carried out against nearly 500 victims, including political opponents and civilians. His conviction does not settle the deeper question that haunts post-conflict societies everywhere: whether a just cause can c
Kosovo ex-president Thaci sentenced to 25 years for war crimes
Thaci convicted for crimes against 481 victims including murder of 96 political opponents, illegal detention of 385 people, and torture of over 300 during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war.
Our war was just, a war of liberation.
Mark
So Thaci was convicted of crimes against nearly 500 people—96 murdered, 385 illegally detained, over 300 tortured. Those are substantial numbers. How did the tribunal establish his personal responsibility?
Mimi
The court found he actively participated in and encouraged the crimes. But the defense pushed back hard on that—they said the KLA didn't have a strict command structure, so senior figures couldn't necessarily control what lower-level fighters did. The tribunal had to work through that gap.
Luke
And did they? The source says prosecutors alleged these things, but I want to know what evidence actually connected Thaci's orders to specific acts. The judge said there was no direct evidence linking his command to the crimes. That's a significant qualifier.
Mimi
That's fair. The verdict itself doesn't detail the evidentiary chain in the material we have. We know the court found him guilty, but the reasoning behind how they overcame that "no direct evidence" problem isn't spelled out here.
Mark
What strikes me is the domestic reaction. Thaci is a hero in Kosovo. Tens of thousands rallied for his acquittal. How does a country process that kind of contradiction—that someone who led them to independence might also have committed atrocities?
Mimi
It's genuinely difficult. The Prime Minister said the war was just, a war of liberation. For many Kosovars, that framing is complete—the struggle itself was righteous. The tribunal is trying to separate that from individual criminal acts, but that distinction doesn't land the same way domestically.
Luke
The tribunal is also unpopular in Kosovo specifically because it's seen as external judgment. It's based in The Hague, staffed by international judges. Only three of 15 people indicted by this court are actually serving time. That's a low conviction rate, which might fuel the sense that it's either ineffective or biased.
Mark
So the verdict might actually deepen the fracture rather than heal it.
Mimi
That's the risk. The court tried to say this isn't about whether the KLA's independence struggle was legitimate. But when you convict the person who symbolizes that struggle, the message people hear might be different from what the judges intended.
Le Pouls
- A Hague tribunal convicted Hashim Thaci of murdering 96 political opponents, torturing over 300 people, and illegally detaining 385 others during Kosovo's war for independence — crimes the court said he actively encouraged.
- The verdict struck Kosovo like a fault line, with thousands flooding Pristina's streets in opposition, and Prime Minister Kurti having already declared the KLA's war righteous and its leaders deserving of freedom.
- The defense's central argument — that the KLA's loose command structure shielded its leaders from criminal responsibility — was rejected by presiding judge Charles Smith, who drew a sharp line between the legitimacy of independence and the criminality of specific acts.
- Foreign embassies braced for unrest, reflecting how volatile the intersection of national myth and international accountability can become when a war hero is recast as a war criminal.
- The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, established after earlier domestic prosecutions collapsed under witness intimidation, remains deeply unpopular at home — leaving the verdict's authority contested even as it stands legally firm.
In The Hague, a tribunal has rendered judgment on Hashim Thaci — former guerrilla commander, architect of Kosovo's independence, and once its president — finding him guilty of war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 conflict and sentencing him to 25 years in prison. The court determined that beneath the banner of liberation, specific acts of murder, torture, and illegal detention were carried out against nearly 500 victims, including political opponents and civilians. His conviction does not settle the deeper question that haunts post-conflict societies everywhere: whether a just cause can coexist with unjust means, and who gets to write the final story.
A tribunal in The Hague convicted former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci of war crimes on Wednesday, sentencing him to 25 years in prison. Thaci, who commanded the Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia, was found responsible for the deaths of 96 political opponents, the illegal detention of 385 people, and the torture of more than 300 others. The court concluded that he had actively participated in and encouraged these crimes, which targeted perceived collaborators, Serb, Albanian, and Roma civilians, and prisoners held in Kosovo and Albania.
Thaci was tried alongside three other former KLA leaders at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers — an international court based in The Hague but operating under Kosovo law, created specifically to prosecute alleged KLA crimes after earlier domestic proceedings collapsed amid witness intimidation. His defense argued that the KLA's decentralized structure made command responsibility impossible to establish, but presiding judge Charles Smith was clear: the trial was not a judgment on Kosovo's independence struggle, but on specific criminal acts.
The verdict reverberated through a country where Thaci and the KLA are regarded as liberators. Thousands gathered in Pristina to watch the livestreamed proceedings, and in the days prior, tens of thousands had rallied for acquittal. Prime Minister Kurti had publicly hoped the leaders would return home free. The Kosovo war killed approximately 13,000 people, including some 9,000 ethnic Albanian Kosovars subjected to Serbian ethnic cleansing before NATO intervention ended the conflict in 1999.
Thaci had been a towering figure in Kosovo's post-war political life, instrumental in its 2008 declaration of independence. Indicted in 2020, he resigned the presidency and has remained in detention since. Before the verdict, he told the judges he had always stood with his people in defense of freedom and dignity. His conviction now poses a question that no tribunal can fully resolve: whether international justice and a nation's own story of liberation can ever truly be reconciled.
A tribunal in The Hague found Hashim Thaci guilty of war crimes on Wednesday, sentencing the former Kosovo president to 25 years in prison. Thaci, who led the Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia, was convicted of murder, torture, and illegal detention. The court determined he was responsible for the deaths of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators with Serbian forces, the illegal detention of 385 people, and the torture of more than 300 others. Prosecutors had alleged that KLA forces under his command killed more than 100 political opponents and collaborators during and immediately after the conflict, including prisoners held at facilities in Kosovo and Albania, as well as Serb, Albanian, and Roma civilians targeted for political reasons. The tribunal found that Thaci "actively participated in and encouraged crimes."
Thaci was tried alongside three other former KLA guerrilla leaders at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, an international court based in The Hague but established under Kosovo law specifically to prosecute alleged KLA war crimes. The defense had argued that senior KLA figures could not be held responsible for such acts because the organization lacked a strict command structure, and that there was no direct evidence linking Thaci's command to the alleged crimes. The presiding judge, Charles Smith, emphasized during the verdict that the trial was not about the legitimacy of the Kosovo Liberation Army or its independence goal, but rather about specific criminal acts committed during the conflict.
The verdict landed in a country where Thaci and the KLA remain revered as national heroes. The tribunal livestreamed the proceedings to Pristina, where thousands of Thaci supporters gathered to watch. In the days before the verdict, tens of thousands had rallied calling for the men's acquittal. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti declared ahead of the decision that "our war was just, a war of liberation," and expressed hope that the KLA leaders would "return free to their country and to their families." Foreign embassies warned of the possibility of unrest following the court's ruling.
Thaci had been a central political figure in Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war ended, playing an instrumental role in the country's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. He was indicted in 2020 and resigned as president, remaining in detention in The Hague since then. The Kosovo war itself killed approximately 13,000 people, including some 9,000 ethnic Albanian Kosovars who were subjected to a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by Serbian forces. NATO intervention in 1999 pushed Serbian forces out and ended the conflict. Serbia has never officially recognized Kosovo as an independent state.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers was established in 2016 after earlier prosecutions in Kosovo had collapsed due to alleged political interference and witness intimidation. Although staffed by international judges and based in The Hague, it operates under Kosovo law. The tribunal remains deeply unpopular domestically. Of 15 people indicted by the KSC so far, only three are currently serving sentences. As the proceedings concluded in February, Thaci told the judges: "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." His conviction now stands as a test of whether international justice can coexist with a nation's own narrative of liberation.
Citations marquantes
Our war was just, a war of liberation. We believe and hope that the KLA leaders will return free to their country and to their families.— Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, speaking before the verdict
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.— Hashim Thaci, addressing judges as proceedings concluded in February
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur Deutsche Welle ↗
Crime & Justice