Kosovo's former president sentenced to 25 years for war crimes

Kosovo's former president sentenced to 25 years for war crimes

Kosovo's former president, Hashim Thaci, has been given a 25-year prison sentence after being found guilty of war crimes.

At a hearing in The Hague on Wednesday, the 58-year-old was sentenced for crimes committed during Kosovo's war of independence against Serbia in the 1990s, a conflict in which more than 10,000 people were killed.

Following a three-year trial, he was convicted of crimes including murder, unlawful arrests, torture and cruel treatment. Several other accusations against him were not substantiated.

Thaci was a co-founder and commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a group that fought for independence. He is seen as a hero in Kosovo.

He was accused of killing nearly 100 people and of carrying out other atrocities, including enforced disappearances.

Thaci was on trial alongside three former KLA commanders who faced similar charges.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was formed in the early 1990s as a militant group of ethnic Albanians in what was then a province of Serbia, and during the war it is alleged to have carried out attacks on the region's ethnic Serb minority.

Thaci became Kosovo's first prime minister when the country declared independence in 2008. He later served as president, but resigned in 2020 to answer the charges in The Hague.

Thousands of people in Kosovo gathered to watch the verdict on large screens as it was announced.

In the capital, Pristina, photographs and videos showed people in tears as they heard the verdict.