Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague found him guilty of war crimes committed during the 1998–1999 Kosovo conflict.
The 58-year-old former leader was convicted on September 16, 2026, alongside three former senior Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders.
The Trial Panel found Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi criminally responsible for war crimes including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder.
According to the court, the crimes involved the arbitrary detention of 385 people, cruel treatment of 49 people, torture of 303 people and the murder of 96 people.
The judges found that the four men contributed significantly to a common criminal purpose targeting people perceived as opponents of the KLA’s political and military objectives.
The targets included Kosovo Albanians associated with rival political or military organisations, people suspected of links to Serbian or Yugoslav authorities and members of minority communities, including Roma and Serbs.
The case relates to Thaçi’s activities during the Kosovo war, rather than his later time as president. Before entering politics, Thaçi became a senior figure in the KLA, the ethnic Albanian armed group that fought Serbian and Yugoslav forces during the conflict.
The war lasted from 1998 to 1999 and ended after NATO intervened against Yugoslav forces. Thaçi later emerged as one of Kosovo’s most prominent political figures, eventually serving as prime minister and president.
The prosecution accused Thaçi and the other former KLA leaders of participating in a campaign against people regarded as opponents or collaborators.
The Trial Panel ultimately convicted them of four categories of war crimes but rejected the prosecution’s separate case concerning crimes against humanity.
The judges found that the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the alleged crimes formed part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, which was required for the crimes-against-humanity charges.
Prosecutors had sought a 45-year sentence for Thaçi. Instead, the court imposed a 25-year prison term and ordered that time already spent in detention be credited toward the sentence.
The court said the four accused had contributed significantly to a common criminal purpose targeting perceived opponents of the KLA’s political and military goals.
The alleged crimes took place between at least March 1998 and September 1999 in several locations in Kosovo as well as in Kukës and Cahan in northern Albania. The Specialist Chambers said the victims included hundreds of civilians and people who were not taking part in hostilities.
The court’s findings covered four war crimes: illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder.
The verdict did not, however, find the four men guilty of every allegation brought against them. The court also acquitted them in relation to a number of specific incidents.
Thaçi was not the only former KLA commander convicted. The court sentenced former KLA spokesman and Kosovo parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years in prison.
Kadri Veseli, a former head of KLA intelligence who later became speaker of Kosovo’s parliament, received an 18-year sentence. Rexhep Selimi, another senior KLA figure who later entered politics, was sentenced to 13 years. All four sentences include credit for time already served in detention.
The four men were transferred to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ detention facilities in The Hague in November 2020 after their arrests.
Their trial began in April 2023. The prosecution closed its case in April 2025, while the evidentiary proceedings ended in December 2025. Closing statements followed in February 2026 before the judges delivered their verdict in September.
Thaçi has consistently denied the charges and rejected the prosecution’s allegations. His defence argued that the case lacked sufficient evidence to establish his personal criminal responsibility for the crimes.
Although the trial took place in The Hague, Thaçi was not tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC). His case was handled by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a separate judicial institution established under Kosovo’s legal framework.
The Specialist Chambers were established in 2015 following allegations concerning serious crimes committed during and after the Kosovo conflict.
The court operates from The Hague and uses international judges and prosecutors.
Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor Kimberly West welcomed the convictions, describing the judgment as significant for accountability and the rule of law.
“Today’s verdict, based on facts and law alone, is important for accountability and the rule of law in Kosovo,” West said.
She added that the case demonstrated that political status did not shield individuals from prosecution.
“No individual, irrespective of rank or political stature, is above the law or immune from accountability for grave international crimes,” she said.
West also stressed that the prosecution was focused on the individual criminal responsibility of the accused and was not intended to challenge a broader historical narrative about Kosovo’s conflict.
