Closing statements begin in war crimes trial for Kosovo ex-president

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Prosecutors said on Monday there is "overwhelming evidence" that Kosovo's former president and three other defendants are guilty of the murder and torture of people they considered traitors during the country's war for independence.

Hashim Thaci resigned from office in 2020 to defend himself against the 10 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during his country's 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia at a tribunal in The Hague.

Prosecutor Kimberly West told judges that witnesses and victims "so yearned for the truth to come out" that they were willing to risk a "climate of intimidation" to testify at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which is based in the Netherlands but is part of Kosovo's legal system.

The staff at the European Union-backed court are largely international due to fears about witness safety and security. In 2022, the court convicted two leaders of a Kosovo war veterans' association for intimidating witnesses by publicizing leaked confidential documents.

A second trial for Thaci for intimidating witnesses will begin later this month.

Those who testified provided "overwhelming evidence" that Thaci and his fellow accused, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniq, pursued a policy of targeting political opponents and civilians perceived as collaborators and traitors as commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Each is charged with offenses including murder, torture and persecution allegedly committed across Kosovo and northern Albania from 1998 to September 1999, during and after the war.

Prosecutors have asked for a 45-year sentence for all four men.

"I am fully not guilty," Thaci, who went by the nickname The Snake during the war, said when the trial opened in 2023. The other three defendants also repeated not guilty pleas made at earlier pretrial hearings.

Thaci was a student who came out of what he described as political exile in Switzerland to join Kosovo's struggle for independence from Serbia. He was embraced by Western leaders, who invited him to 1999 peace talks in France in his role as political director of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and was seen as a leader who could guide the country toward independence.

Many Kosovars consider the court an injustice and view it as an attempt to rewrite their history, saying it's trying to equalize Serbia's genocide to their suffering.

Most of the 13,000 people who died in the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo were ethnic Albanians. A 78-day campaign of NATO airstrikes against Serbian forces ended the fighting. About 1 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars were driven from their homes.