Kosovo’s Thaci indicted for war crimes
Indictment links president to 1990s atrocities
BRUSSELS • Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci was indicted on a range of warcrimes charges, including nearly 100 killings, a special prosecutor in The Hague announced Wednesday, just three days before the leader was due at the White House for a special summit with Serbia.
The announcement of the 10-count indictment threw the summit into disarray. Thaci, who had already left Kosovo en route to the United States, planned to turn around and head home, his office said. U.S. special envoy Richard Grenell said on Twitter that the talks would continue anyway, with Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti leading the delegation from Pristina.
The Hague-based special prosecutor’s office has been investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs connected to Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war of independence.
Many of Kosovo’s leading politicians took part in the war, which claimed more than 10,000 lives and ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign in support of the separatists.
Thaci was one of the top commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army and has denied previous allegations of war crimes.
But the special prosecutors office said Wednesday that based on a “lengthy investigation,” it could prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Thaci and others had perpetrated “murder, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution, and torture.” It added that “the crimes alleged in the indictment involve hundreds of known victims of Kosovo Albanian, Serb, Roma, and other ethnicities and include political opponents.”
The indictment must still be approved by a judge before any legal process goes forward.
Thaci did not immediately comment on the substance of the charges beyond the announcement that he would return to Kosovo. Thaci was expected to visit the White House along with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Saturday. Serbia never recognized Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, and the summit was intended to try to resolve their impasse. NATO peacekeepers are still deployed in Kosovo.