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Kosovo’s former President Hashim Thaci was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison by a tribunal in The Hague on Wednesday, the court said in a long-awaited verdict likely to spark outrage in the Balkan country.
Judges said Thaci, who was tried along with three other former guerrilla leaders, was guilty of illegal arrests, torture, murder and cruel treatment.
Thaci is considered a hero by many in Kosovo, where the verdict had been closely watched after a three-year trial.
For many in Kosovo, Thaci and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) are symbols of the country’s independence movement.
After the war, Thaci remained a central political figure and played a key role in Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.
Images of the 58-year-old, who also served as prime minister, have regularly appeared on huge billboards across the country throughout the trial.
Thaci, 58, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes including murder, torture and illegal detention committed as top commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the territory's break from Serbia in the 1990s.
Prosecutors at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague had asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.
Thaci and the other defendants had pleaded not guilty to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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