Protests erupt over Kosovo leader’s war crimes conviction
Violent protests have erupted in Serbia’s breakaway region of Kosovo and abroad after a Hague-based special tribunal convicted former politician and paramilitary commander Hashim Thaci of war crimes.
In its ruling on Wednesday, the tribunal sentenced Thaci, a commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), to 25 years in prison for the murder of 96 people and the torture of around 300 others during the group’s fight for the region’s independence from Serbia in the late 1990s.
Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo in 1999 after NATO accused Belgrade of ethnic cleansing and launched a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. After the war, Thaci went on to serve as the first prime minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo and later as its president.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up the majority of Kosovo’s population, took to the streets to protest the verdict.
In footage circulating on social media, hundreds of demonstrators can be seen facing off against riot police in the breakaway republic, with dozens kicking at officers’ riot shields.
Protesters gathered outside the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) building in Pristina, launching fireworks and throwing bottles and stones.
[ 🇽🇰 KOSOVO | 🇷🇸 SERBIE ]🔸 Des milliers de manifestants ont défilé à Pristina jusqu'au siège de la mission européenne EULEX, jetant pierres, bouteilles, pavés et feux d'artifice et tentant de forcer l'entrée du bâtiment. La police kosovare a affronté la foule mais a empêché… https://t.co/GSFjurfBBQpic.twitter.com/LEPkl0Kaii
In the Netherlands, where the verdict was delivered, protesters were filmed attacking police vans.
In the video, members of the Albanian diaspora are protesting in The Hague after the sentencing of Hashim Thaci and other high-ranking leaders of the unrecognized Kosovo pic.twitter.com/NRiLiSBw1B
Most Western countries recognize Kosovo’s independence, while Serbia, Russia, China, India, Iran, and several other countries do not. A NATO-led peacekeeping force has been stationed in the region since 1999. Despite attempts at normalization, tensions remain between Serbia and the Albanian-majority government in Pristina.
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