Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has been accused of war crimes by a special international prosecutor in The Hague. The indictment, filed on 24 April with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), alleges that Mr Thaci and others are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders, torture, and enforced disappearances during Kosovo's independence war against Serbia.
The Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO) stated that the indictment is the result of a lengthy investigation and reflects its determination to prove all charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The SPO also accused Mr Thaci and another politician, Kadri Veseli, of attempting to obstruct and undermine its work to avoid facing justice.
A pre-trial judge now has six months to decide whether to issue charges. The allegations against the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which Mr Thaci led, include organ-trafficking, first raised by former Hague prosecutor Carla del Ponte in 2008. The EU-backed court was established to investigate these claims.
Kosovo's government has denied the allegations, calling them baseless and defamatory. Mr Thaci has been in power since the war ended in 1999, most recently as president. The 1998-1999 conflict cost over 10,000 lives and ended after a Nato air campaign. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Serbia still does not recognise.
Mr Thaci was due to travel to Washington for talks with Serbia's leadership at the White House on Saturday. The KSC's announcement marks a dramatic departure from its usual silence, having revealed little about its work since its establishment in 2016.
