The story so far: Hashim Thaci, the former President of Kosovo, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of war crimes by a special European Union-backed court at The Hague. The trial found him guilty of crimes including murder, arbitrary detention, illegal arrests, torture etc during the Kosovo war in the late 1990s as a senior commandant of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Three other former KLA commanders were also sentenced for several different charges.
What happened?
Thaci was a former commandant of the KLA, a militant ethnic Albanian force, formed in the early 1990s, which strove for the independence of Kosovo, composed primarily of ethnic Albanians, from Yugoslavia and Serbia.
Kosovo was once part of the erstwhile Republic of Yugoslavia. Post the Second World War, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was reconstituted as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. While Tito was able to unify the multiple republics, which included Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, and the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and and Vojvodina, under a centralised government, following his death, this centralised system started coming under pressure. Multiple factors such as divisions between the republics, rising nationalist movements, economic pressure, the disintegration of the Soviet Union all contributed to the eventual dissolution of Yugoslavia in 2003.
One of the primary nationalist trends which spearheaded the Yugoslavian dissolution was the Serbian nationalist movement led by Slobodan Milošević in the late 1980s. Riding on Serbian nationalist tendencies, Milošević pushed through policies which stripped other Republics and provinces such as Kosovo of their autonomy. He also brought in policies which were discriminatory in nature against Albanians.
The KLA was first formed in such an atmosphere, in order to fight for the independence of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, then a province within Serbia. There was an insurgency against the Yugoslavian state within Kosovo, spearheaded by the KLA which attacked Serbian governmental buildings and police stations. This eventually led to all-out war in 1998-1999 with the Serbian controlled federal republic brutally cracking down on the KLA. The war led to the displacement of thousands of people and the death of nearly 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians. The war finally ended with the intervention of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) which carried out air raids and bombardments against Serbian targets which forced the federal republic to end hostilities and move out of Kosovo. NATO subsequently deployed peacekeeping forces to the region.
Milošević eventually stood trial for his crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, in The Hague in 2002. However, he died in prison before a judgment was reached.
In 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia and was recognised by the U.S., and several other European nations. However, Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as an independent nation and still considers it a part of itself even though it has no administrative control over it. It still is not a member state of the UN. India also does not recognise Kosovo as an independent nation.
What was the trial for?
The trial was heard by the European Union-backed Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a special tribunal court constituted in The Hague in 2016, to hear the crimes committed by the KLA during the period of insurgency and subsequent war of the 1990s. The need for such a tribunal arose after Swiss politician Dick Marty authored a Council of Europe report, known as the Marty report, in 2010, which alleged that the KLA placed many Serbians in secret detention centres where they were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, before ultimately “disappearing”. Of particular note was the allegation that the KLA had harvested the organs of such prisoners in order to sell them in the international market.
The report, in effect, coloured the larger imagination of the KLA and the Kosovo independence movement. The narrative changed from the KLA being seen as a champion of self-determination to an inhumane militia which had committed human rights abuses against Serbian nationals.
At least 15 people have been charged by the Chambers, out of which Thaci is the most senior figure. Charges were brought against him in 2020, when he was President of Kosovo, following which he had to resign from the position and stand trial as an ordinary citizen.
The central question the court dealt with was to analyse the extent of control the commandants had over the KLA and whether the crimes amounted to a pattern of abuse. Finally, presiding judge Charles Smith stated that Thaçi had “actively participated in and encouraged crimes” adding that, “the scale and nature of the crimes committed were very serious”. However, the judge insisted that the trial was “not about the legitimacy of the Kosovo Liberation Army” or its ultimate goal of securing independence for Kosovo.
What has been the reaction?
The verdict is a significant fall for Thaci, who was once regarded by Western powers as central to Kosovo’s post-war future.
In Kosovo, where Thaci is still seen as a revolutionary and revered figure, the verdict was met with outrage and tears. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurit said the verdict was “a travesty of justice”. People who had poured into the streets of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, to hear the verdict on a big screen were shocked and shouted slogans in support of the KLA and Thaci.
However, the Serbian side has welcomed the judgement. Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic called the verdicts a “warning” to Pristina “that a fake state cannot be built on mass graves of murdered Serbs”.
Thaci and the three other commandants have the right to appeal the decision.
Published – September 17, 2026 12:23 pm IST
