Kosovo: War Crimes Trial to Begin in The Hague
Human Rights WatchMar 31, 2023
Former Kosovo Pres. Hashim Thaci has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He and three co-defendants went on trial Monday accused of killing nearly 100 people among other serious crimes.
The charges stem from Kosovo’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia in which the defendants allegedly targeted political opponents and minority ethnic Serbs and Roma in the war that killed 13K people, most of whom were Kosovo Albanians.
Hashim Thaci and the three KLA leaders must stand trial and answer for their litany of heinous crimes. Their victims deserve answers, and the public deserves to know about the atrocities that have occurred in Kosovo over the past 25 years. Amid conflict in the region, Thaci and the KLA targeted political opponents and ethnic minorities, committing crimes against humanity, including murder and forced disappearances. No one is above the law, and this trial will prove it.
Thaci is a freedom fighter and hero who made enormous sacrifices for Kosovo’s independence. Prosecutors are corruptly trying to attach Thaci and the KLA to various crimes committed in the late 1990s that they had nothing to do with. This trial is a sham, and prosecutors are making outright lies about Kosovo, its leader, and its independence. Thaci is innocent, and this trial will prove that undoubtedly.
There is a 50% chance that Serbia will recognize Kosovo by Sept. 2041, according to the Metaculus prediction community.