Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci convicted in The Hague for crimes committed during the war

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was sentenced to 25 years in prison in The Hague for war crimes committed during the Kosovo War in 1998–1999.

Reuters writes about this.

He was found guilty of murder, torture, and illegal detention while serving as the political commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The tribunal found him guilty of the murder of 96 political opponents and alleged collaborators with Serbian forces.

Thaci himself denied all the accusations.

What preceded

In 1998–1999, fighting between the Kosovo Liberation Army and Serbian forces continued, halted by NATO intervention, and resulted in the deaths of over 10 000 people, most of whom were ethnic Albanians.

In 2008, Kosovo declared independence, which was recognized by more than 100 UN countries. Despite this, Serbia considers Kosovo to be its autonomous territory.

Ukraine still does not officially recognize the regionʼs sovereignty. In particular, on August 8, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade.

There, Zelensky stated that Ukraine has always respected the territorial integrity of its partners, therefore "the position on the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo remains unchanged" — that is, Kosovo is part of Serbia.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.