The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in a 24 June 2020 press statement that it had filed such charges against President Hashim Thaci as well as Kadri Veseli (another Kosovar politician) and others, with the KSC, two months prior. The charges against the suspects include responsibility for nearly 100 murders committed during the Kosovo war. As the statement emphasises, “the indictment is only an accusation”. With that said, it is one that resulted from extensive investigations, and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office believes it can be proven beyond any reasonable doubt.  

TIMING OF THE CHARGES

What is most interesting is the timing of the charges. President Thaci was scheduled to meet United States President Donald Trump and Serbian President Alexsandar Vučić 27 June 2020 to discuss a potential deal that would involve a land-swap between Serbia and Kosovo and Serbian recognition of the latter’s independence. Indeed, some have claimed that the charges were made public to stop this deal, for it would potentially also have included negotiations on the termination of the KSC. Others claim the timing is a result of President Thaci’s attempts to obstruct the KSC. The statement of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office talks of “repeated efforts” by Thaci and Veseli to “obstruct and undermine” its work. 

THE CONTEXT OF THE CRIMES: KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY

The present charges relate to Thaci’s time as a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1998-99 war with Serbia and its aftermath. Kosovo sought autonomy from Serbia, whose president, Slobodan Milosevic, deployed brutality against the Albanians living in Kosovo, then a province of Serbia. President Milosevic himself faced trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia but died in 2006 before a judgment. NATO intervened in the conflict in 1999 with a bombing campaign to halt Serbian violations.

Although NATO intervened, in effect, in support of the KLA, there is no doubt that the latter organisation was engaged in atrocities. In fact, the United States even considered it as a terrorist organisation as late as 1998. Indeed, apart from murder, the indictment also accuses the suspects of “enforced disappearance of persons, persecution, and torture” as instances of crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

After the conclusion of the war in June 1999, Kosovo became a United Nations protectorate. Thaci oversaw the process for independence which culminated in a declaration of independence in 2008. However, Kosovo’s independence is still only partially recognised. Kosovo is not a member of the UN, for example, as it is recognised by just half of member states. Serbia still does not recognise it as a sovereign state. 

THACI’S RECKONING

Allegations of criminality surrounding Thaci date back to the early 2000s. In fact, in 2000 there was a Serbian warrant for his arrest. In 2011, a Council of Europe report named Thaci as the leader of a criminal gang involved in “drug, gun and human organ trafficking”. However, he has so far evaded accountability. 

Today, Thaci and his co-defendants deny the charges brought against them by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, but their time of reckoning might be close. The president addressed Kosovo on the evening of 28 June 2020, confirming that if the pre-trial judge decides to affirm the charges against him, he would immediately resign.

Mitch is a final year History, Politics and Economics student at UCL. He has keen interests in issues related to the Former Soviet Union, as well as Central and Eastern Europe. He is a freelance contributor to multiple publications, including Oxford Business Group Reports.

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