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Kosovo and Albania on Wednesday criticized a war crimes verdict against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, while France reiterated its support for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which sentenced Thaci to 25 years in prison.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti called the sentencing of Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders an “unacceptable injustice.”
“The conviction and such a severe sentence for four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army is an unacceptable injustice, a great and harmful punishment,” Kurti wrote on Facebook after the verdict.
Kosovo Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca, who attended the proceedings in The Hague, called the verdict “unfair” and “undeserved,” describing it as a “sad” decision for Kosovo and its liberation war.
Konjufca also questioned the basis of the indictment and criticized the use of materials from Serbia, according to Kosovo-based news website Telegrafi.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama also reacted on Facebook, writing “Marre,” meaning “shame,” and sharing an image of Europe surrounded by barbed wire.
France said it took note of the decision and reiterated its support for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and its commitment to combating impunity.
The French Foreign Ministry said the decision was subject to appeal and marked the conclusion of first-instance trials before the chambers, except for cases concerning offenses against the administration of justice.
France also reaffirmed its “constant support” for Kosovo’s independence and institutions.
The chambers sentenced Thaci, 58, to 25 years in prison after finding him guilty of crimes including murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
Former KLA commanders Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi were also convicted.
Veseli was sentenced to 18 years in prison, while Selimi received 13 years and Krasniqi 25 years.
All four defendants had pleaded not guilty to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The panel found that all four accused shared a “common criminal purpose,” contributed to it and intended that the relevant crimes associated with it be committed.
The judge said the panel found all four criminally responsible through their significant contribution to a joint criminal enterprise for the war crime of arbitrary detention against 385 people, cruel treatment against 49 people, torture against 303 people and murder against 96 people.
They were acquitted of crimes against humanity charges.
Prosecutors at the war crimes tribunal had sought a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the three other former high-ranking KLA commanders.
Thaci served as Kosovo’s prime minister from 2008 to 2014 and president from 2016 until his resignation in 2020.
He resigned as president after the indictment against him was confirmed in 2020 and has remained in detention in The Hague since then.
Thaci was sentenced for crimes committed as a top commander of the ethnic Albanian KLA during Kosovo’s break from Serbia in the 1990s.
For many in Kosovo, Thaci and the KLA are symbols of the country’s independence movement.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Feb. 17, 2008, but Serbia still considers Kosovo its own territory.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, although based in the Netherlands and staffed by international judges, was established under Kosovo law specifically to prosecute alleged crimes committed by KLA members during the war.
The court has been deeply unpopular in Kosovo since its establishment, with critics accusing it of political bias and objecting to its use of evidence supplied by Belgrade.
The Kosovo war claimed about 13,000 lives.
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