PRISTINA, Kosovo

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who is on trial in The Hague for war crimes, was allowed to visit his sick mother on Monday. 

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers said in a statement that "due to compelling humanitarian grounds…the Trial Panel has instructed the Registry to manage a custodial visit to Kosovo for Hashim Thaci to meet family."

Thaci remains in detention and in the custody of the Specialist Chambers, with support from the European Union’s rule-of-law mission EULEX and the Kosovo Police, it added.

He is charged with various crimes including murder, torture and persecution in Kosovo and northern Albania during and after the 1998-1999 Kosovo War.