TIRANA, March 31 – Former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci, considered a hero by compatriots for leading the 1998-99 insurgency against Serbian rule that led to independence, will go on trial on Monday for alleged war crimes during the conflict, reported Reuters on Friday.
A special Kosovo court set up in The Hague indicted Thaci in November 2020 on 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecution, murder, torture and enforced disappearance of people among other things during the uprising.
Thaci, 54, resigned as president shortly afterward and was transferred to detention in The Hague. Three of his closest associates, including two former speakers of parliament, face the same charges as ex-Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas.
The four are accused of participating in a “joint criminal enterprise … that carried out widespread or systematic attacks” on minority Serb civilians in Kosovo as well as Kosovo Albanian opponents of the KLA. All have denied the charges.
As the fighting abated and Serbian forces withdrew under NATO bombardment from Kosovo, Thaci traded in his green uniform for a blue suit and tie. When Kosovo declared independence in 2008, he was prime minister, and in 2016 became president.
Ahead of the trial, billboards splashing photos of both Thaci and ex-parliament speaker Kadri Veseli with the inscription “Heroes of War and Peace” could be seen across the small Balkan country.
War veterans and other Kosovo nationalist groups announced a protest in support of the former KLA defendants for Sunday. /Argumentum.al
