Breaking: Former President Arrested as Details Emerge
- Kosovo's former president Hashim Thaci was convicted of murder, torture, and illegal detention linked to the 1990s conflict with Serbia
- A panel of judges at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers found Thaci criminally responsible as top commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army
- Three other former KLA commanders were also sentenced alongside Thaci, with sentences ranging from 13 to 25 years
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A court in The Hague sentenced Kosovo's former president Hashim Thaci to 25 years in prison on Thursday after finding him guilty of war crimes committed during the late 1990s conflict in which Kosovo broke away from Serbia.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers convicted Thaci, 58, of murder, torture, cruel treatment, and the illegal detention of civilians.
Source: Twitter
The tribunal determined that he bore criminal responsibility as the top commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the ethnic Albanian separatist force that fought Serbian security forces between 1998 and 1999.
Presiding judge Charles Smith said Thaci "actively participated in and encouraged crimes."
The court established that KLA forces under his command murdered 96 people identified as political opponents or perceived collaborators with Serbian authorities. A further 385 people were arbitrarily detained, 303 were tortured, and around 50 others suffered cruel treatment.
What the Court Found
Judge Smith told the court: "The scale and nature of the crimes committed were very serious.
The so-called intelligence on which many of these victims were arrested, detained and killed was little more than unverified rumours. Based on that information, victims were called and described as spies and collaborators and violently treated."
The American judge was careful to clarify that the proceedings were "not about the legitimacy of the Kosovo Liberation Army" or Kosovo's goal of independence.
Thaci, who denied all charges, stood in silence as the sentence was delivered. He retains the right to appeal.
Other Defendants Also Sentenced
Three other former senior KLA figures were tried alongside Thaci. Jakup Krasniqi also received a 25-year sentence, while Kadri Veseli was jailed for 18 years and Rexhep Selimi for 13 years. All four had denied the charges. The panel acquitted the four men on six counts of crimes against humanity, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove those crimes were part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians.
The verdicts drew an immediate public response in Kosovo, where Thaci remains a revered figure for many ethnic Albanians. Thousands had gathered in the capital Pristina ahead of the ruling, with crowds filling a central square waving red and black Albanian flags and banners calling for the men's acquittal. When the guilty verdicts were announced on a big screen, many in the crowd booed and wept.
Thaci had resigned from the Kosovo presidency in late 2020 to face the charges, after nearly three years of trial proceedings. In his closing address to the court in February, he said: "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."
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted to the verdict by posting an image of barbed wire stretched across a map of Europe, with a single word: "Unbelievable."
Former senator arrested
Previously, Legit.ng reported that the Court of Appeal in Lagos convicted and sentenced Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, representing Delta North Senatorial District, to seven years imprisonment.
The EFCC in a statement via Facebook said the appellate court gave the verdict on Friday, July 1.
Source: Legit.ng
