Prosecutors on Monday requested 45-year prison sentences for former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three former senior commanders as closing arguments began in their trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office said the four men bear individual and command responsibility for crimes committed against detainees at KLA-run detention sites in Kosovo and neighboring Albania during and shortly after the 1998-99 conflict, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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The indictment includes allegations of 102 killings, as well as unlawful detention, torture and persecution. Prosecutors argue that the gravity of the charges warrants a 45-year sentence for each defendant if convicted.
Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West told the court that the passage of time has not reduced the seriousness of the alleged crimes. She also stressed that no conviction is being sought against the KLA as an organization and that membership alone cannot serve as the basis for a sentence.
Thaci was indicted in 2020 and resigned as president the following month. He and his co-defendants have been held in detention in The Hague since their transfer to the court. All four have pleaded not guilty.
Defense lawyers maintain that the KLA lacked a clear centralized command structure and argue that their clients did not exercise effective control over fighters accused of abuses.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and its associated Specialist Prosecutor’s Office were established in 2011 in The Hague under Kosovar law. Made up of international judges and prosecutors, the court investigates and prosecutes war crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo between 1998 and 2000.
