Kosovo president Hashim Thaci has been charged with 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict in the country in the 1990s.
Thaci and nine others have been alleged by a special international prosecutor (SPO) in The Hague that they “are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders“, torture and enforced disappearances. The court was created to investigate allegations of crimes committed by the Albanian side of Kosovo during the war.
Mr Thaci and one of the defendants, Kadri Veseli, a Kosovo politician, were also accused of seeking to “obstruct and undermine” the SPO’s work “in an attempt to ensure that they do not face justice”.
While the European country’s president refuted the accusation, the statement made it clear that the case has not yet been proved, and also states that the pre-trial judge has not yet decided on confirmation of the charges.
The statement was made as Thaci was on his way to Washington DC before a meeting in the White House with the president of Serbia scheduled for Saturday and brokered by Richard Grenell, the Balkan peace envoy of Donald Trump. Trump hoped to broker an agreement between the two countries that had not normalized relations since after a NATO bombing campaign Kosovo broke away from Serbia.
Since the end of the war, Mr Thaci has held power in Kosovo-most recently as Kosovo ‘s President. The 1998-1999 war on independence cost more than 10,000 lives and only ended after an air campaign by Nato. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008 and Serbia has yet to recognize the development.
