The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague delivered a landmark verdict on Wednesday, finding four former senior leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guilty of war crimes committed during the 1998–99 Kosovo conflict.
The conflict, fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia on one side and the KLA on the other, occurred against the backdrop of the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.
Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, alongside former KLA leaders Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Jakup Krasniqi, received a combined sentence of 81 years in prison at first instance. Specifically, Thaci and Krasniqi were each sentenced to 25 years, Veseli to 18 years, and Selimi to 13 years.
The court convicted the four defendants on multiple charges, including the arbitrary detention of 385 individuals, cruel treatment of 49 people, the torture of 303 individuals, and the murder of 96 people.
However, they were acquitted of crimes against humanity charges, as the court determined it had not been proven that a widespread or systematic attack was directed against a civilian population.
Vucic: Court ‘did not want to undermine KLA’s credibility’
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday evening, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic criticized the court’s decision, specifically highlighting that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers—despite being part of Kosovo’s judicial system, based in The Hague, and composed of international judges—failed to convict the four former KLA leaders of crimes against humanity.
“As a court of the so-called Kosovo, they did not want to undermine the credibility of the KLA and did not address the merits of the matter concerning the formation of forces aimed at seceding Kosovo from Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,” Vucic stated.
Vucic further noted that the verdict failed to address crimes committed against Serbs after June 20, 1999, the date when KFOR—the international peacekeeping mission led by NATO—arrived in Kosovo following the official end of the armed conflict.
‘United in hatred against Serbs’
Vucic also expressed strong disapproval regarding the reactions of several states in the former Yugoslavia to the court’s verdict.
Commenting on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s characterization of the verdict as an “unacceptable injustice,” Vucic countered, “Imagine if we had said that about any defendant or convicted person. How many resolutions and declarations would various European and world parliaments have adopted against our people and our country?”
This remark alluded to the widespread condemnation by European officials of the funeral the previous week of former Bosnian Serb commander and convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, which was attended by large crowds of citizens and several Serbian government ministers in Belgrade.
Hague tribunal convicts Hashim Thaci of Kosovo war crimes
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Vucic also commented on a statement from Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, which asserted that the verdict did not alter the fact that the people of Kosovo had been victims of repression and crimes committed under the regime of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
“There are no Serbs as victims; in every statement, Serbs have to be the perpetrators,” Vucic asserted. “All of them in the region are united in hatred against Serbs.”
Individualization of criminal responsibility
Serbian lawyer Aleksandar Olenik, who specializes in war crimes cases in the former Yugoslavia, offered a positive assessment of the ruling.
“It is well known that war crimes were committed in the territory of Kosovo that was under the control of the KLA during the 1990s. We now have judgments and the individualization of criminal responsibility,” Olenik told DW.
Olenik emphasized that the respect shown for victims during the proceedings in The Hague represents “progress in international criminal law.”
“In previous ad hoc tribunals, victims were merely witnesses, merely a means of proving guilt. At this court, they have their own legal representative and are entitled to compensation,” he explained.
More trials to come in Kosovo?
Olenik explained that under the Kosovo law establishing the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, only the founders of the KLA are subject to prosecution before that specific court.
However, Kosovo’s domestic judiciary is expected to prosecute other members of the organization who are believed to have committed crimes.
“The summary of the judgment names individuals who were not included in the indictment but who were found to have committed criminal offenses,” Olenik noted. “It is now up to the other part of Kosovo’s judicial system to prosecute, first, those against whom evidence was presented in these proceedings, and then others as well. This should also cover the period after the end of the armed conflict, that is, after June 20, 1999.”
Serbia, Kosovo ‘heighten the potential for conflict’
Stasa Zajovic of Women in Black, a Belgrade-based NGO founded in the early 1990s and focused on anti-war activities, stated that neither the “Serbian regime nor the Kosovo authorities” utilize war crimes judgments to examine their own responsibilities in the conflict. Instead, they use them to “heighten the potential for conflict.”
“When I say that they use similar patterns, I cannot equate the scale of the crimes committed by the two sides. It must not be forgotten that the Serbian regime is responsible for the largest number of atrocities in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, particularly in Kosovo,” Zajovic told DW.
Regarding the tensions in Kosovo following the announcement of the verdict in The Hague on Wednesday, Zajovic emphasized that “it is important that international forces are present to monitor the situation.”
“It is clear that the conditions do not exist for armed conflict, but there is a danger that the war could continue by other means,” Zajovic remarked.
Future impact of the verdict
When asked how the verdict would affect relations between Serbia and Kosovo, lawyer Olenik recalled that previous judgments by international courts have had minimal impact in this regard.
“I hope things will be better now. That depends on the political elites in both countries,” Olenik stated, adding that Kosovo society “has been pushed considerably to the right over the past four years.”
“I am not optimistic that the verdict will have a positive effect in the near future,” Olenik concluded. “But I think that, as time passes—in 10 or 15 years—people will look at what has been established by these judgments in a more realistic manner and without such strong emotions.”