Former Kosovan president Hashim Thaci was sentenced to 25 years in prison on September 16 after a Hague court found him criminally responsible for war crimes committed during the 1998-99 conflict with Serbia.

Thaci, 58, a former political and military leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), was convicted of war crimes including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder. The court found him responsible for the murder of 96 people, the arbitrary detention of 385 people, torture of 303 and cruel treatment of 49.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers also sentenced former KLA political leader Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years, former parliament speaker Kadri Veseli to 18 years and former KLA commander Rexhep Selimi to 13 years.

All four defendants had denied the charges and pleaded not guilty. The prosecution had sought 45-year prison sentences for each of them.

The court found the four men criminally responsible for war crimes committed against civilians and others who were not taking part in hostilities. It ruled, however, that prosecutors had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the crimes formed part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, meaning the charges of crimes against humanity were not established.

The court said the relevant armed conflict ran from at least March 1998 until June 20, 1999, and that alleged crimes committed after that date could not be classified as war crimes because the armed conflict had ended.

The judges found that Thaci, who served as the KLA's political chief during the conflict, had played a key role in a common criminal purpose and had knowledge of crimes committed against people viewed as opponents of the KLA.

Thaci later became Kosovo's prime minister and president. He declared Kosovo's independence from Serbia in 2008 as prime minister and remained one of Kosovo's most prominent political figures.

The case was heard by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a court based in The Hague established under Kosovo law with international judges and prosecutors to investigate crimes allegedly committed during and after the Kosovo war.

The four men were transferred to detention in The Hague in November 2020. Their trial began in April 2023, 134 witnesses testified and evidentiary proceedings ended in December 2025. There were 156 participating victims in the case.

The verdict has been closely watched in Kosovo, where Thaci and the other defendants are regarded by ethnic Albanians as freedom fighters who helped win independence from Serbia. In Serbia, however, the KLA is viewed as a terrorist organisation that terrorised the Serbian civilian population and forced large numbers of Serbs to flee Kosovo during and after the war.

Supporters of the KLA gathered outside the court in The Hague and in Pristina as the verdict was read.