Kosovo Ex-President Thaci Convicted of War Crimes
A Hague tribunal ruled that Hashim Thaci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), is responsible for war crimes during the Kosovo War.
Hashim Thaci, the former president of Kosovo, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes, including murder, torture and illegal detention. The Kosovo war crimes tribunal in The Hague found him guilty of these crimes committed while he was the commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the territory's break from Serbia in the 1990s.
Thaci was convicted of the murder of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators by KLA forces, as well as the arbitrary detention of 385 people, torture of 303 people and cruel treatment of about 50. The court stated that Thaci actively participated in and encouraged these crimes, with the prosecution alleging that many of the victims were arrested, detained and killed based on little more than unverified rumours.
Thousands of people in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, booed the verdict and chanted Thaci's name, while Albania's Prime Minister criticized the ruling as "unbelievable".
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