Hashim Thaçi was sentenced to 25 years in prison by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague after the Trial Panel held him criminally responsible for war crimes tied to the Kosovo conflict. The ruling also reached Rexhep Selemi, Kadri Veseli and Jakup Krasniqi, all former senior Kosovo Liberation Army figures.
The panel said the four were responsible for war crimes against 385 individuals detained, 49 subjected to cruel treatment, 303 tortured and 96 murdered. Thaçi, the former Kosovo president and former Kosovo Liberation Army commander, was found to have played a key role in a common criminal purpose that included setting up detention facilities, identifying perceived opponents, arresting and detaining them, and, if necessary, killing them.
The Hague verdict
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office said: “The Trial Panel found that all four Accused were criminally responsible for the war crimes of arbitrary detention against 385 individuals, cruel treatment against 49 individuals, torture against 303 individuals, and murder against 96 individuals.” The same statement said: “The Trial Panel found the accused not guilty of crimes against humanity because the Specialist Prosecutor failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.”
That split finding sets the legal boundary of the case. The court accepted that war crimes were proved, but it did not accept the higher threshold needed for crimes against humanity. The result left Thaçi with the 25-year term while the same verdict covered the three co-defendants.
Kosovo Liberation Army leadership
The judges found that during the Kosovo conflict, Thaçi, Veseli, Selemi and Krasniqi contributed significantly to the common criminal purpose of targeting perceived opponents of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s political and military goals. The targeting included Kosovo Albanians associated with the LDK and FARK, people alleged to be linked to the FRY or Serbian authorities, and some Roma and Serbs.
The statement said the targeting took the form of killings, arrests and detention without due process, physical and psychological mistreatment, and other abuse, intimidation and harassment. It also said that, with limited exceptions, the panel found no evidence that any of the victims had engaged in criminal activity, taken part in hostilities, or posed any other legitimate security concern for the Kosovo Liberation Army.
What the verdict leaves
For Thaçi, the immediate change is the prison term imposed by the court. For the other three men, the verdict fixes criminal responsibility within the same case, but the panel’s findings did not treat every charge the same way. The proceedings were deeply unpopular in Kosovo and neighbouring Albania, and the ruling now stands as the latest development in a long-running case over violence from 1998 to 1999.
The court did not set out any next hearing, appeal or transfer date in the facts available with the verdict. The open question now is how the sentence will be implemented after the judgment issued in The Hague.
