NATO-backed separatist found responsible for war crimes

Hashim Thaci, the former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), has been found responsible for war crimes committed by the militant group during its NATO-backed campaign to break away from Serbia in the 1990s.

The ethnic Albanian, who served as the first president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, has been found guilty of the murder of 96 political opponents and suspected Serbian collaborators, the verdict said. He was also convicted for the unlawful detention and torture of hundreds of people.

The 58-year-old Thaci and three other former KLA leaders tried in The Hague are widely regarded as national heroes in Kosovo. Thaci has denied the charges. His defense argued that senior figures in the KLA could not control rank-and-file separatist fighters and thus could not be held responsible for crimes committed under their leadership. Lawyers described the group as lacking a strict military hierarchy during the 1998-99 conflict.

NATO’s bombing campaign targeting Serbia, which Washington and its European allies framed as a humanitarian intervention, ensured KLA’s victory. Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state, having rejected the unilateral declaration passed by the breakaway entity’s parliament in 2008.

A demonstration in support of Hashim Thaci and other defendants was held in Pristina on September 12, 2026. ©  Pierre Crom / Getty Images

The US, the UK, France, Germany, and many other Western and European nations, however, officially recognize Kosovo’s independence. Camp Bondsteel, the headquarters of NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR), is the largest American military base in the Balkans.

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The Serbian government accused the West of pursuing selective justice in the wake of the Balkan wars, allegedly focusing on Serbian suspects and overlooking crimes attributed to their opponents.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), where Thaci was tried, was set up in The Hague in 2016, after earlier cases failed in Kosovo due to alleged political interference and witness intimidation.