Kosovo reels after Hague court convicts Thaci; fresh protests called for Friday

Kosovo is confronting a precarious political and diplomatic moment after the European Union-backed Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague convicted former president Hashim Thaci of four counts of war crimes and sentenced him to 25 years in prison, a ruling that has drawn widespread anger in Pristina and further protests planned for Friday.

The verdict, delivered on Wednesday, concerns crimes committed during Kosovo's 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia. Thaci was one of four Kosovo Liberation Army leaders convicted by the court. The others are Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.

In the capital, posters bearing the four men's faces have appeared alongside KLA flags, with slogans declaring "Freedom has a name" and "Liberators bring them home." The Kosovo Liberation Army Veterans Organization said the ruling amounted to an attempt to rewrite the history of the liberation war.

"Yesterday, our war of liberation was put on trial," said Gazmend Syla, a representative of the veterans' group, expressing what he described as deep indignation over the sentencing. He rejected any suggestion that the KLA was a criminal enterprise, calling it the people's resistance against expulsions and massacres and the only response of a nation facing the threat of annihilation.

Constitutional law professor Mazllum Baraliu said the decision leaves Kosovo exposed geopolitically, strategically and politically, particularly on the international stage. He argued that the court's establishment reflected an interest among Kosovo's adversaries, notably Serbia and Russia, in obstructing its integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions, and predicted an intense diplomatic campaign from Belgrade and Moscow, including attempts to secure derecognition of the state.

Baraliu also urged Kosovo's political parties to close ranks, describing the matter as one of strategic interest and warning that history itself was at stake.

Among citizens in Pristina, reactions ranged from outrage to cautious hope. One resident, Reshat Salihu, called the ruling shameful and scandalous, insisting the convicted men were liberators rather than criminals. Another, Besim Islami, said the decision was unwelcome but expressed hope that an appellate court would acquit them.

Most of the roughly 13,000 people who died in the Kosovo war were ethnic Albanians. A 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian forces ended the fighting, and about one million ethnic Albanian Kosovars were driven from their homes. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Belgrade refuses to recognize, and ties between the two remain tense despite years of EU-mediated negotiations supported by the United States.