Reuters reports to The Hague: War crimes prosecutors seek 45 years in prison for former President Thaci

Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army commanders are accused of persecution, murder, torture and forced disappearance of people during and shortly after the 1998-99 uprising, which eventually brought independence.

The defendants committed crimes against those who perceived them as opponents to take over Kosovo”, prosecutor Kimberly West said before The Hague tribunal. She added that in 1998 and 1999 more than 100 political opponents and persons perceived as collaborators with Serbian security forces were killed and hundreds more were mistreated in about 50 detention camps under KLA control.

This case has to do with the purpose of all four defendants to gain and exercise control over all of Kosovo”, West said near the end of an almost three-year trial at Kosovo's special war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Thaci, 57, who has served as prime minister, foreign minister and president of independent Kosovo between 2008 and 2020, and co-accuseds deny all charges.

Thaci's lawyers, who are expected to issue final statements Wednesday, earlier argued that Thaci had no real authority over the KLA and its military commanders during its uprising and consequences.

Prosecutors say Thaci and other KLA leaders held a violent campaign against political opponents, as well as ethnic Serb and Roma minorities, to take full control of Kosovo.

Most of the victims of persecution were members of the Kosovo Albanian majority, which constitutes 90% of the population, the prosecution said.

Kosovo's Specialised Chambers, made up of international judges and lawyers, were established in 2015 to handle war crimes cases under Kosovo's law against former KLA governors. Many Kosovars see the tribunal as unilateral towards the KLA, and leaders as heroes who freed Kosovo from the Serbian hopeful rule.