Former President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi was found guilty on Wednesday of war crimes by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the special tribunal based in The Hague. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder, torture, and unlawful detention, crimes committed while he was commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), during and after the 1998–1999 conflict.

The panel of international judges determined that Thaçi was responsible for the killing of 96 political opponents and people considered collaborators with the Serbian security forces. Prosecutors had sought a 45-year sentence for Thaçi and three other former senior KLA commanders, accused of persecution, murder, torture, and the forced disappearances of Albanians and Serbs.

The case also included allegations concerning organ trafficking. A 2011 Council of Europe report claimed that, after the conflict ended, organs may have been removed from some prisoners at a clinic near the Albanian town of Fushë-Krujë for transplants abroad.

Thaçi was president of Kosovo between 2016 and 2020. After being indicted, he resigned and surrendered to the tribunal. He maintains his innocence and rejects the accusations. Romania does not recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia.