Pristina Protests Continue for Sixth Night Over Thaci War Crimes Verdict

Thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of Pristina on Monday for a sixth consecutive night, voicing anger at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers' verdict against former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders, among them ex-President Hashim Thaci.

Thaci received a 25-year prison sentence after the court found him guilty of war crimes committed during Kosovo's 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia.

The crowds carried red flags and banners, including one reading "Not in my name" and another declaring "Yesterday they fought for us, today we stand for them." Portraits of Thaci and former KLA figure Jakup Krasniqi were held aloft beneath the slogan "Freedom has a name," while protesters chanted the acronym of the guerrilla force.

"The hope, as you can see for yourself, is that we must protest every day, believing that justice will prevail in favor of the liberators on appeal," said Minavere Hoti, one of those taking part.

Another protester, Smajl Nezaj, said: "We are protesting because a great injustice has been done. Our nation fought for freedom."

The judgment landed as a heavy blow for a figure once warmly received in Western capitals. Thaci was invited to the 1999 peace talks in France and was widely viewed as a leader capable of steering Kosovo toward statehood.

Most of the roughly 13,000 people who died in the Kosovo war were ethnic Albanians. The fighting ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign against Serbian forces, and around one million ethnic Albanian Kosovars had been driven from their homes.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a step Belgrade has refused to recognize. Relations between the two sides remain strained despite years of European Union-mediated negotiations backed by the United States.