Verurteilung: Kriegsverbrechen: 25 Jahre Haft für Kosovos Ex-Präsident
Hashim Thaci hat stets seine Unschuld beteuert. Doch das Kosovo-Sondertribunal sieht das anders und verurteilt ihn wegen schwerster Verbrechen.
In a three-year trial, former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has been convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Kosovo Special Court in The Hague found him responsible for 96 cases of political murders, as well as other serious crimes such as torture, persecution, and arbitrary detention of innocent people.
Thaci, who previously claimed to be "completely innocent," maintained his composure upon hearing the verdict on Wednesday. The court sentenced him to 45 years for the crimes committed at the end of the 1990s, while his defense requested his acquittal. Nearly 300 witnesses testified during the trial, involving 155 victims. Thaci and three co-defendants were members of the leadership of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), accused of committing crimes against humanity.
Thaci served as Kosovo's Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and President from 2008 to 2020 before stepping down to face the Hague court. All four defendants held leading positions in the KLA and high political offices after the war, which ultimately led to Kosovo's independence from Serbia with the help of NATO. The Special Tribunal was established in 2015 at the urging of international pressure, consisting of international judges and prosecutors, and relocated to The Hague for security reasons. Thaci has the right to appeal the verdict.
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