Hague prosecutors seek 45 years for former Kosovo president Thaci

ISTANBUL

Prosecutors on Monday sought 45-year prison sentences for former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three former senior commanders as closing arguments began in their war crimes and crimes against humanity trial.

The request was made at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, where Thaci is on trial alongside Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, all former senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Balkan Insight reported.

The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office said the four men bear individual and command responsibility for crimes committed against detainees at KLA-run detention sites in Kosovo and neighboring Albania during and shortly after the 1998-99 conflict.

The indictment includes allegations of 102 killings, as well as unlawful detention, torture and persecution. Prosecutors argue that the gravity of the charges warrants a 45-year sentence for each defendant if convicted.

Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West told the court that the passage of time has not reduced the seriousness of the alleged crimes. She also stressed that no conviction is being sought against the KLA as an organization and that membership alone cannot serve as the basis for a sentence.

Thaci was indicted in 2020 and resigned as president the following month. He and his co-defendants have been held in detention in The Hague since their transfer to the court. All four have pleaded not guilty.

Defense lawyers maintain that the KLA lacked a clear centralized command structure and argue that their clients did not exercise effective control over fighters accused of abuses.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and its associated Specialist Prosecutor’s Office were established in 2011 in The Hague under Kosovar law. Made up of international judges and prosecutors, the court investigates and prosecutes war crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo between 1998 and 2000.

- Kosovo War and independence

The 1998–1999 Kosovo War, which ended with NATO’s intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, and displaced over one million.

The KLA was formed in the 1990s with the aim of resisting Yugoslav forces and achieving Kosovo’s independence.

After the war, the KLA was disbanded, and many of its members joined newly established national security institutions.

Kosovo declared unilateral independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, a move still not recognized by Belgrade.