Judges at a European Union-backed tribunal in The Hague convicted Hashim Thaci, the former president of Kosovo, of war crimes committed during his country’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia, and on September 16, 2026, they sentenced him to 25 years in prison. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) returned guilty findings against Thaci, 58, on four counts: murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention.
Political rivals and people believed to be helping Serbian security forces accounted for 96 killings for which the judges held him responsible, along with the arbitrary detention of 385 people, the torture of 303 and the cruel treatment of 49. None of the victims, the judges said, were taking part in the fighting when the crimes occurred.
Dressed in a suit and tie, Thaci stood in silence while Presiding Judge Charles Smith read out the conviction and the sentence. He has denied every charge. Prosecutors, who had sought a maximum term of 45 years, can appeal, and so can Thaci.
Thaci’s lawyer, Luka Misetic, said on X on September 17 that his client would appeal the conviction and that he wished for citizens to remain “peaceful.” Misetic wrote: “Hashim Thaci wishes to express his sincere appreciation for the outpouring of support.”
What the Judges Concluded
Thaci took a hands-on role in the offenses, the court ruled, and encouraged them as a member of a joint criminal enterprise pursuing a common plan, using his rank and public standing to that end. Fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) committed abuses that he failed to investigate or punish, the judges added. “The scale and nature of the crimes committed were very serious,” Smith said.
The judge said the intelligence behind many of the arrests “was little more than unverified rumours. Based on that information, victims were called and described as spies and collaborators and violently treated.” The American judge also underlined what the case did not decide: it passed no judgment on the legitimacy of the KLA’s cause, nor on its aim of winning independence for Kosovo, at the time a province of Serbia.
All four defendants on trial, Thaci among them, were acquitted of six counts of crimes against humanity, the panel having concluded that prosecutors had not proved the crimes formed part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians. A panel of three judges heard the three-year trial. Two questions drove it: how far the men held top-level operational control over a KLA run from the center, and whether the abuses amounted to a pattern.
The three other former KLA leaders tried alongside Thaci pleaded not guilty. Jakup Krasniqi was sentenced to 25 years, Kadri Veseli to 18 years and Rexhep Selimi to 13 years. The terms handed to Veseli and Selimi take in time already spent in custody. Rodney Dixon, a lawyer for Veseli, said he would “mount a robust appeal to continue the fight to show Mr. Veseli’s innocence and to bring him home to Kosovo.”
From Commander to President
Formed in the mid-1990s, the KLA stepped up its armed operations in 1997 and 1998. Serbian forces answered with large police and military sweeps. An estimated 13,000 people died in the war that followed, which also drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. Fighters on both sides committed crimes. Thaci, who helped found the group and went by the nom de guerre “Commander Snake,” headed the KLA’s political directorate.
Western governments courted him during the war and after it. An invitation took him to the 1999 peace talks at Rambouillet in France, where diplomats fell under his charm, then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright most notably among them, and observers came to regard him as the man who could steer Kosovo to statehood. He became the country’s inaugural prime minister when Kosovo proclaimed its independence in 2008 and later served as foreign minister, holding the presidency from 2016 to 2020. The tribunal’s indictment prompted his resignation in November 2020, and that same month he was transferred to detention in The Hague.
Anger in Pristina and The Hague
Thousands in Pristina, the capital, watched the hearing on a giant outdoor screen, and the length of the sentence stunned them. Chants of “UCK” — the Albanian-language initials of the Kosovo Liberation Army — rose from the crowd. Hundreds then marched across the Kosovar capital, patrolled by dozens of riot officers. Masked protesters later threw stones at the perimeter wall of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) outside Pristina and broke several windows. Kosovo police said contingency arrangements had been made with foreign peacekeeping forces should the protests turn violent. The United States, for its part, advised its citizens to avoid crowds.
Hundreds of supporters massed in a park close to the courthouse in The Hague and briefly clashed with Dutch riot police, who said on X that two people had been detained.
Backing for the four men had been on open display over the weekend before the verdict, when thousands packed central Pristina with Albanian flags and banners declaring them innocent. A bonfire ceremony honoring KLA members took place in the village of Klecka on September 11.
Kosovo’s government condemned the ruling, with Prime Minister Albin Kurti calling it “unacceptable” and saying his administration would support the four men throughout the appeals process. Kosovo Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca condemned the outcome as “a terrible judgment for Kosovo, for our people and for our liberation war.” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama posted an image of a circle of barbed wire laid across a map of Europe with a single word, reported in Albanian as “Marre” — shame — and rendered by Reuters as “Unbelievable.” Specialist Prosecutor Kimberly West welcomed the ruling. “Certain individuals exploited those war circumstances to commit grave crimes, and it is to the credit of Kosovo that those individuals are now being held accountable,” she said in a statement.
Former KLA fighters led a rally of thousands in a central square of Pristina on Friday, September 18, described as one of the largest since the sentencing. Many in the crowd wore military fatigues and waved KLA flags, and speakers stood before large banners bearing images of the four jailed men. Protesters also accused the court of political bias and criticized its use of evidence supplied by Serbia.
War veteran leader Nasim Haradinaj told the crowd at the September 18 rally: “We demand that the court overturn this decision and take into account all these people who stood up to protect their sons.”
War veteran Ruzhdi Kryeziu, also at the Pristina rally that day, told AFP: “A great injustice had been done to us.”
Thaci remains a hero to many Kosovo Albanians, and the court that convicted him commands little public support in Kosovo. He also faces separate charges of intimidating witnesses, to which he has pleaded not guilty. That case is due to go to trial later this month.