Overview
- On Wednesday, a Kosovo Specialist Chambers panel found former president Hashim Thaci guilty of four war crimes counts and sentenced him to 25 years in prison while three co-defendants received prison terms of 25, 18 and 13 years.
- Judges said the convictions covered murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention and attributed specific tallies to those crimes, including 96 unlawful killings and hundreds of detainees subjected to torture or cruel treatment.
- The court acquitted all four men on six crimes-against-humanity charges after finding prosecutors had not proved a widespread and systematic attack on civilians.
- The verdict prompted large pro-defendant rallies in Pristina and clashes near the Hague court, with protesters in Kosovo attacking EULEX premises and Dutch police using a water cannon to disperse crowds.
- Thaci and his co-defendants deny the charges and will appeal, Thaci faces a separate witness-intimidation trial later this month, and the EU-backed Hague court’s decision is likely to shape Kosovo’s domestic politics and regional tensions with Serbia.