The war crimes trial of former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci began on Monday at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, Netherlands. Thaci, who served as commander-in-chief of the ethnic Albanian rebel Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and three other former KLA heads, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi, are charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes that took place during the 1998-1999 armed conflict against Serbian forces.
According to the indictment, between at least March 1998 and September 1999, the four defendants have been accused of persecution, imprisonment, illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, torture, murder, and enforced disappearance of persons. Those the defendants deemed to be opponents included alleged suspected collaborators with Serbian forces, as well as officials, state institutions, and those who did not support the aims of the KLA, including associates of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Serbs, Roma, and other ethnicities.
Amnesty International’s Balkans researcher Jelena Sesar told Al Jazeera that the indictment is significant as “it focuses on command responsibility by Mr. Thaci and KLA leadership for war crimes and crimes against humanity, rather than dealing with isolated incidents.” “The failure to properly investigate the crimes that took place between 1998-1999 has been a stain on the ICTY’s record and the fact that those suspected of war crimes continued to live freely and occupy senior positions in the government only created a widespread sense of impunity.”
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