Former KLA leaders Thaçi, Krasniqi sentenced to 25 years each

The Trial Panel of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague has sentenced former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders Hashim Thaçi and Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years in prison each.

According to Report's Balkan bureau, Presiding Judge Charles Smith said the court had established that KLA members committed war crimes in Kosovo and Metohija in 1998–1999, including unlawful or arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as murder.

Two other former KLA leaders, Rexhep Selimi and Kadri Veseli, were sentenced to 13 and 18 years in prison, respectively.

In delivering the verdict, the judge said that, based on all the evidence presented, the Trial Panel had established that KLA members arbitrarily deprived at least 385 people of their liberty between April 1998 and June 20, 1999.

The Trial Panel also found that 348 people were subjected to cruel treatment during that period, including 303 who were tortured.

However, the court ruled that because the non-international armed conflict between the KLA and the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, namely Serbian forces, lasted from March 1998 until June 20, 1999, acts committed after that date would not be classified as war crimes.