Kosovo Braces for Hague Verdict on Former KLA Leaders

Kosovo is counting down to Wednesday's verdict in the trial of four former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, with public attention focused on the fate of the one-time guerrilla chiefs.

In central Pristina, a countdown clock has been running for weeks, and a large screen has been set up so residents can watch the proceedings live. Billboards across the city carry messages such as "Liberators bring them home" and "In the name of the people, pronounce them not guilty," alongside portraits of the four accused.

Student Eris Gashi said she expected the men to be released. "They stood up for the helpless children and women who were massacred during the war in our country," she said, adding that a guilty verdict would suggest the conflict had not been a fair fight for the country.

Political analyst Ilir Deda said public opinion in Kosovo finds it hard to accept the idea of a joint criminal enterprise within the KLA, or that the force had a command structure able to issue orders across all zones during the war. He noted that the KLA's political wing is among those on trial, and that no political figure representing war victims in the former Yugoslavia has previously been convicted of war crimes.

Deda warned that a guilty verdict could carry wider political consequences. He said Serbia, Russia and other states opposed to Kosovo's independence would seize on such an outcome, and that it would also discredit NATO's intervention.

At a government meeting, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said Kosovo's resistance and its war had been a just liberation struggle against an occupying force that committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. He expressed hope that Wednesday's ruling would reflect that view and that the KLA leaders would return home to their families.