Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three co-defendants have gone on trial, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Kosovo’s independence war against Serbia in 1998-99. The charges against Thaci include killing nearly 100 people and enforced disappearances.
Thaci was the co-founder of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighting for independence and is regarded as a hero in Kosovo. His trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers has raised hopes that it will reveal what happened to some of the thousands of people who vanished during the Kosovo conflict. The trial is expected to reveal the alleged mistreatment or murder of Serb civilians in over 100 locations in Kosovo and in northern Albania.
All four co-defendants, who were associates both during and after the war, deny any wrongdoing. Thaci resigned as President in 2020 to face the charges in The Hague. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, but it is only recognised by 99 out of 193 UN member states, with Serbia among those that refuse to recognise it. In its first case, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers jailed for 26 years KLA commander Salih Mustafa, who was in charge of a prison where torture took place.
He is currently appealing against the conviction. In 2007-12, former Kosovan Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj was tried twice and acquitted at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Source: Aljazeera