Former Kosovo president and prime minister Hashim Thaçi has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague found him and three others guilty of four war crimes committed during the 1998–1999 Kosovo conflict.
The court convicted Thaçi and his three co-accused – Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi – of murder, torture, cruel treatment, and arbitrary detention. Veseli was sentenced to 18 years, Selimi to 13 years, and Krasniqi to 25 years in prison. The sentence will consider the time they have spent in custody.
In a press release dated September 16, 2026, the court said the four were all found criminally responsible for the war crimes of the murder of 96 people, the illegal detention of 385 people, the torture of 303 people, and the cruel treatment of approximately 50 people.
However, they were not found guilty of the six crimes against humanity charges in the indictment. The judges found the evidence insufficient to establish that those crimes formed part of a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population.
The judgment is a first-instance decision, meaning the case can be appealed.
The Trial Panel found that, as a member of the general staff of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and in his capacity as the head of the Political Directorate, Thaçi was involved in formulating and implementing the common purpose that entailed setting up detention facilities; identifying individuals perceived as opposing the KLA; arresting and detaining them; and, if necessary, killing them.
“This included the targeting of alleged ‘collaborators’, the setting up of a structure, competent bodies and regulations to do so, and the deployment of ‘special warfare’ against opponents, including through the publication of communiques and political declarations and other public statements expressing tolerance and encouragement for the commission of crimes against opponents,” the press statement said.
Crimes against humanity
The judges also found that Thaçi personally participated in crimes, including the arrest, arbitrary detention, and interrogation of 13 parliamentarians and the arrest, detention, transfer, and murder of Behajdin Allaqi.
“He further disseminated false information about detainees and victims of the crimes committed by KLA members, gave false assurances of compliance with international humanitarian law on behalf of the KLA, and contributed to a policy of impunity in respect of perpetrators of crimes against opponents,” the statement added.
As the head of the Intelligence Directorate, Veseli was responsible for identifying, obtaining information about, monitoring and neutralising persons suspected of being “collaborators”.
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“The Trial Panel also found that Mr Veseli was personally involved in the process of identifying and targeting opponents, many of whom were eventually murdered,” the statement said.
The judges found that although Selimi, as Inspector General of the KLA and head of the Operational Directorate, did not have as much authority over the other members of the KLA as his co-defendants, he failed to ensure that the KLA operated in compliance with its obligations under international humanitarian law, instead choosing to tolerate serious violations. He was also found to have participated in the arrest and detention of 13 parliamentarians.
Krasniqi was a member of the General Staff and the Political Directorate, spokesperson, and deputy commander of the KLA, and was found to have been a key member in formulating and implementing the policy to target opponents.
“In particular, through the publication of communiques and political statements and other public speeches, as well as orders, Mr Krasniqi encouraged the commission of crimes against individuals perceived as opponents, including through the KLA’s ‘special warfare’. These statements, amongst other things, took responsibility for assassinations and ‘punitive measures’ against ‘collaborators’ and encouraged and expressed tolerance of crimes, such as ‘[c]ollaborators are warned that we will kill them if they continue to follow the wrong path,” the statement said.
The crimes were committed during the Kosovo war, when Thaçi was a senior political figure in the KLA, the ethnic Albanian armed group that fought Serbian and Yugoslav forces.
The 58-year-old former president denied all charges throughout the proceedings. During his final statement before the court on February 18, 2026, he told the judges, “There is only one truth: that the charges do not stand. I am completely innocent.” He also expressed regret for the victims of the Kosovo conflict, regardless of ethnicity.
Struggle for independence
In his closing remarks, he presented his wartime and political record in the context of Kosovo’s struggle for independence and said his life had been devoted to what he described as the defence of Kosovo’s freedom and dignity.
The statement said that during the hearing, the presiding judge emphasised that the trial was not about the legitimacy of the KLA and its goal of an independent Kosovo, but about the use of certain criminal means by some of its members to achieve these goals.
The prosecution had sought a 45-year prison sentence for Thaçi and each of his three co-defendants. The indictment alleged that crimes were committed between at least March 1998 and September 1999 at various locations in Kosovo and northern Albania.
The charges included persecution, imprisonment, other inhumane acts, torture, murder and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity, as well as illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder as war crimes.
Prosecutors told the court that KLA members targeted civilians and others perceived to be opposed to the organisation, including people considered political opponents or collaborators.
The prosecution case concerned victims from different ethnic communities, including Serbs, Roma and Kosovo Albanians perceived as opponents of the KLA. Thaçi and the other defendants pleaded not guilty and rejected the allegations.
In June 2020, the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office announced that an indictment had been filed against Thaçi and Veseli.
At the time, Thaçi was serving as Kosovo’s president.
After the indictment was confirmed, Thaçi resigned from the presidency in November 2020, saying he wanted to avoid putting the office of the president and Kosovo through the proceedings while he defended himself before the court.
He was subsequently transferred to the detention facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, together with Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi.
The trial formally began on April 3, 2023.
The proceedings lasted nearly three years and involved an extensive evidentiary record. According to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the Trial Panel received evidence from approximately 270 witnesses, either orally or in writing, and admitted 5,467 exhibits. The trial transcript exceeded 29,000 pages.
The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office completed its case on April 15, 2025. Victims’ counsel subsequently presented evidence, followed by the defence cases.
Evidentiary proceedings formally closed on December 18, 2025. The parties then filed their final trial briefs, and closing statements were heard from February 9 to February 18, 2026. The case involved 156 participating victims, according to the court’s current case record.
Because of the volume of evidence and complexity of the proceedings, the Trial Panel extended the deadline for delivering its judgment before scheduling the verdict for September 16, 2026.
From wartime leader to politician
Born on April 24, 1968, Thaçi grew up in the Drenica region and emerged as a political figure during the period of growing Albanian resistance to Serbian rule.
He studied philosophy at the University of Pristina before moving to Switzerland, where he became involved in Kosovo Albanian political activism.
During the 1990s, Thaçi became associated with the KLA and rose to become one of its senior political leaders. The KLA emerged as an armed force seeking independence for Kosovo from Serbia. Its campaign escalated into armed conflict in 1998 and 1999 between KLA fighters and Serbian and Yugoslav security forces.
Thaçi became one of the most recognisable representatives of the KLA during international efforts to end the conflict. He was part of Kosovo’s delegation to the 1999 Rambouillet negotiations, where international diplomats attempted to broker a settlement between Kosovo Albanian representatives and the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević.
The conflict ended after NATO’s air campaign against Yugoslavia and the subsequent withdrawal of Serbian and Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.
After the war, Thaçi transitioned from armed struggle into Kosovo’s emerging political system. He became leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), a political party with roots in the KLA.
In 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, and Thaçi became the country’s prime minister after independence, serving from 2008 to 2014.
His government operated during a period in which Kosovo sought international recognition and worked to establish its institutions as an independent state.
Kosovo’s independence was recognised by numerous countries, although Serbia and several other states continued to reject Kosovo’s independence.
Thaçi subsequently served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister before being elected president in 2016. As president, he remained a central figure in Kosovo’s relations with Serbia and in international efforts to address the dispute between the two countries.
His political career was therefore closely connected to Kosovo’s transition from armed conflict to statehood.
Following the September 16, 2026, sentencing, the defence has the right to appeal the judgment under the court’s procedures, meaning the conviction and sentence are not necessarily the final word in the case.
Thaçi is also facing a separate case before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers concerning alleged offences against the administration of justice. The separate proceedings concern allegations including attempts to influence witnesses and disclose confidential information.
