Kosovo's Thaci Convicted of War Crimes, Sentenced to 25 Years

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Hashim Thaci, who led Kosovo's guerrilla independence movement and later served as the country's first elected president, was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison after an international tribunal found him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), a European Union-backed court seated in The Hague, delivered the verdict against Thaci and three other former senior Kosovo Liberation Army commanders: Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi. Reporting from Al Jazeera confirmed the proceedings and reactions in Pristina.

Presiding Judge Charles Smith III, an American jurist, read the sentence in a courtroom where, according to NPR's account of the session, Thaci stood in silence wearing a suit and tie. The court found all four men guilty following a trial that lasted three years.

According to a detailed account reviewed by [your]NEWS, citing the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the chamber ruled that Thaci was responsible for the illegal arrest and detention of 385 people, the cruel treatment of 49 detainees, the torture of 303 people, and the murder of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators with Serbian security forces. Prosecutors, led by former U.S. federal prosecutor Kimberly West, had argued that the KLA under Thaci's command targeted individuals regarded as traitors or rivals during the bloody 1998-99 conflict in which Kosovo broke from Serbia.

All four defendants denied the charges. Krasniqi received the same 25-year term as Thaci. Veseli was sentenced to 18 years, and Selimi to 13. Prosecutors had sought the maximum of 45 years for each. Both the defence and prosecution can appeal.

The political fallout was immediate and fierce. Kosovo's Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca condemned the verdict as "a terrible judgment for Kosovo, for our people and for our liberation war," according to NPR. Hundreds of Thaci's supporters had gathered near the courthouse in The Hague, and some clashed briefly with Dutch riot police, who confirmed two arrests. In Pristina, thousands watched the sentencing live on a public screen; masked protesters later threw stones at the compound of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, known as EULEX, on the capital's outskirts.

The verdict carries weight far beyond the courtroom. Kosovo already faces what Al Jazeera's correspondent in The Hague described as a "political deadlock," with repeated elections failing to produce a stable government capable of advancing the territory's bid for closer ties with the European Union. The conviction of a man viewed by many Kosovar Albanians as a founding father of their state is, as that correspondent noted, "just going to be another stumbling block on that path to stability."

Thaci had resigned from the presidency in November 2020 to face the charges, and was transferred to detention in The Hague shortly afterward. The KSC was established under EU auspices specifically to handle allegations that KLA commanders committed crimes against ethnic Serbs, Roma, and political opponents during and after the independence conflict, crimes that existing Kosovo courts were considered unable to try fairly.

Serbia, which has never recognised Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, is watching the verdict closely. Belgrade has long argued that the KLA operated as a criminal organisation; the conviction will strengthen that narrative in Serbian domestic politics, even as it deepens grief and anger in Pristina.

Sources cited:
- Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/16/former-kosovo-president-hashim-thaci-convicted-of-war-crimes)
- NPR (https://www.npr.org/2026/09/16/g-s1-143560/kosovo-former-president-war-crimes)
- [your]NEWS / Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (https://yournews.com/2026/09/16/7196730/hashim-thaci-sentenced-to-25-years-for-war-crimes-and/)
- OPB (Associated Press) (https://www.opb.org/article/2026/09/16/kosovos-ex-president-thaci-sentenced-to-25-years-in-prison-for-war-crimes/)