The internationally backed Kosovo court's verdict sentencing former President Hashim Thaçi to 25 years in prison for war crimes sparked shock and anger among most Kosovars on Wednesday. Judges of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague found Thaçi and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders guilty of illegal arrests, torture, murder and cruel treatment during the 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia. But among many Kosovo Albanians, Thaçi and his co-defendants are still widely lauded as heroes of the independence movement — and their simmering anger threatened to escalate into wholesale riots.
In Prishtina, a crowd of young men marched towards the headquarters of the European Union's Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), waving KLA flags and chanting the guerrilla group's name. Some scuffled with riot police and threw stones at the building. A small group remained in front of EULEX until Wednesday night, blocking traffic and defying police orders to clear the road and disperse.
The group eventually left for Prishtina airport to welcome Thaçi and Veseli's sons, Endrit Thaçi and Klestor Veseli, upon their return from the sentencing. In The Hague, angry demonstrators who had gathered near the court briefly clashed with police, with some climbing onto a police van as officers held them back from the court building. Police dispersed the crowd with water cannon.
Earlier on Wednesday, thousands gathered in the capital Prishtina to watch the verdict on a large screen. As the sentence was delivered, silence settled over the attendees, leaving many visibly stunned after weeks of preparations by Thaçi's supporters for a possible acquittal. "This process was not about justice, but politics," said pensioner Tahir Bytyqi, one among the crowd that quickly dispersed after the proceedings finished.
The trial has remained deeply controversial in the Western Balkan nation of some 1.6 million, with Premier Albin Kurti calling the verdict "a great and harmful punishment" and urging it to be "corrected" on appeal. "These are unjust findings, but they are not final and will be subject to review on appeal," Kurti said in a Facebook post. "The reason the KLA was born was not, and cannot, be punished or tarnished." Thaçi was sentenced alongside former senior KLA figures Jakup Krasniqi, Rexhep Selimi and Kadri Veseli.
Krasniqi was sentenced to 25 years, Selimi to 13 and Veseli to 18. The court said they had "contributed significantly" to a common criminal purpose targeting perceived opponents of the KLA's political and military goals. All four were acquitted of charges of crimes against humanity and can appeal the sentence.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
