The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Wednesday sentenced Kosovo's former President Hashim Thaci to 25 years in prison after convicting him of four counts of war crimes — murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention — committed during the 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia.

The EU-backed court convicted Thaci alongside three other former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders who stood trial with him: Kadri Veseli, sentenced to 18 years; Rexhep Selimi, sentenced to 13 years; and Jakup Krasniqi, sentenced to 25 years. All four had pleaded not guilty and maintain their innocence.

Presiding Judge Charles Smith said Thaci "used his position, leadership, authority and standing" to encourage crimes and failed to investigate or punish abuse by KLA fighters. The American judge said Thaci actively participated in and encouraged crimes, including by promoting individuals involved in crimes, and "showed a ruthless ability to remove and eliminate political impediments" to his and other commanders' leadership.

Partial acquittal on crimes against humanity

The panel acquitted all four defendants on six charges of crimes against humanity. The judges found prosecutors failed to prove that the crimes were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians — the legal threshold required for that category of offences.

On the war crimes counts, the court found the defendants guilty of the arbitrary detention of 385 people, cruel treatment of 49, torture of 303 detainees and the murder of 96 people. Smith said the victims included political opponents and civilians perceived as collaborators and traitors.

"In reality, there is no indication that the victims in this case were spies or collaborators," Smith said. Just having "Serbian friends or jobs in Serbian companies was enough to treat them as collaborators" of the enemy.

The judge stressed that the trial was "not about the legitimacy of the Kosovo Liberation Army" or its goal of securing independence for Kosovo, which at the time was a province of Serbia.

Both the defence and the prosecution can appeal. Prosecutors had sought a harsher sentence. Thaci resigned from the presidency nearly six years ago to face the charges in The Hague.

Reaction and consequences

The judgment drew sharply divided reactions. Specialist Prosecutor Kimberly West applauded the outcome. "Certain individuals exploited those war circumstances to commit grave crimes, and it is to the credit of Kosovo that those individuals are now being held accountable," she said in a statement.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said "we have no reason to rejoice" and voiced concern the verdict will not survive appeals. He criticised the court for not accounting for other alleged crimes against ethnic Serb civilians and claimed anti-Serb bias. "No responsibility has been established for the toughest crimes," he said. "Serbs are always (war) criminals and others are liberators and heroes."

Kosovo's Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca condemned the verdicts as "a terrible judgment for Kosovo, for our people and for our liberation war."

Veseli's lawyer, Rodney Dixon, called the judgment "not a good day for Kosovo. It's not a good day for the rule of law or international law" and said he would "mount a robust appeal to continue the fight to show Mr. Veseli's innocence and to bring him home to Kosovo."

Esther Major, Amnesty International's deputy regional director for Europe, said the convictions "show that senior officials are not above the law."

The sentence stunned Thaci's supporters. Thousands watched the hearing live on a huge screen in Pristina, some shouting "UCK," the Albanian-language acronym for the KLA. Hundreds of supporters gathered near the courthouse in The Hague, and Dutch riot police said on X that they detained two people after brief clashes. Later, masked protesters threw stones at the wall of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) compound on the outskirts of Pristina, smashing several windows.

Background

Thaci was once embraced by the West, invited to the 1999 peace talks in France and seen as the leader who could guide Kosovo to independence. A student when fighting broke out, he returned from what he described as political exile in Switzerland to join the struggle, earning the nickname "the Snake" for his ability to evade Serb forces.

At the close of his trial in February, Thaci told 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."

Most of the 13,000 people who died in the war were ethnic Albanians. A 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian forces ended the fighting, by which point about 1 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars had been driven from their homes. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade refuses to recognise. Ties between the two remain tense despite years of EU-mediated talks supported by the United States.