Prishtina has been gripped by widespread demonstrations following a landmark ruling from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which found former President Hashim Thaçi guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court handed down a 25-year prison sentence to Thaçi, a key figure in the Kosovo Liberation Army during the late 1990s conflict.
Thaçi was convicted alongside former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and former minister Bilal Xhaferi for their roles in the unlawful detention, ill-treatment, and murder of ethnic Serb civilians and political opponents between 1998 and 1999. The trial focused on atrocities committed at the
These protests are explosive. How can Kosovo reconcile with its past while the verdict feels like a political weapon to its citizens?
Twenty-five years seems severe for a former head of state, but the gravity of the crimes against Serb civilians demands accountability.