Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci sentenced to 25 years for war crimes

A war crimes tribunal in The Hague has sentenced former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci to 25 years in prison for war crimes dating back to the 1990s war of independence from Serbian control. While judges rejected the charges of targeting a civilian population, Thaci and his co-defendants were convicted of murder, cruel treatment, torture and arbitrary detention. The panel found all four accused — Thaci, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi — criminally responsible through their significant contribution to a joint criminal enterprise. The convictions cover arbitrary detention involving 385 individuals, cruel treatment involving 49, torture involving 303 and murder involving 96. Prosecutors had been seeking 45 years in prison for Thaci. There has been an angry response in Pristina, where thousands of Kosovo Albanians see Thaci not only as the country's former president but also as a symbol of Kosovo's liberation, making the judgment particularly painful for many. The decision comes against a backdrop of political deadlock in Kosovo, with repeated elections failing to produce a stable government. The prosecution's case centred on command control and individual responsibility, arguing that the accused were at the head of a quasi-guerrilla movement and targeted people suspected of collaborating with Serbian officials.

Al Jazeera's Sonia Gallego reports from The Hague.

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