Kosovo ex-president Hashim Thaci sentenced to 25 years for war crimes
A Kosovo Specialist Chambers trial panel found Thaçi, Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi guilty of playing significant roles in the targeting of individuals they believed opposed the political and military goals of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the chambers said on X.
The Trial Panel found that all four "criminally responsible" for the murders of 96 people, torture of 303, arbitrary arrest of 385 and cruel treatment of a further 49.
Veseli and Selimi were handed prison sentences of 18 years and 13 years, respectively, minus time already served on remand, the specialist prosecutor's office said in a news release.
The court said those targeted for assassination, arbitrary detention without due process, physical and psychologically abuse as well as harrassment and intimidation included Kosovo Albanians linked to rival political or military forces, including the Kosovo Democratic League and the Kosovo Armed Forces, its military wing.
Individuals alleged to be associated with the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or Serbian authorities and members of certain ethnic minorities, including a number of Roma and Serbs, were also singled out for targeting.
The trial panel acquitted the men of six counts of crimes against humanity.
The panel said that, bar a few examples, most of the those targeted were innocent civilians caught up in the perpetrating of a "common criminal purpose" that tarred them, often falsely and most of the time with no foundation, as "collaborators or spies."
It said it found no evidence that any of the victims played any active role in the conflict, posed a valid security threat to the KLA or were involved in criminal activity of any kind.
In testimony to the court, many of those affected said they had suffered lasting psychological and physical injuries.
The presiding judge stressed purpose of trial was not to re-litigate whether the KLA was a legitimate army of liberation, or Kosovon independence, but about the criminal acts perpetrated by some KLA members in pursuit of an independent Kosovo.
The court said in handing down the sentences it had taken into account additional vulnerabilities due to the ages of some victims or the fact some had witnessed their loved ones being murdered or abused.
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