After over 120 KLA ex-fighters were questioned by Hague-based prosecutors, and then in April, the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office filed a ten-count indictment charging four prominent guerrillas-turned-politicians – President Hashim Thaci, Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader Kadri Veseli, the chairman of the national council of the Social Democratic Initiative (NISMA) party, Jakup Krasniqi, and the head of the parliamentary group of the biggest opposition party, the Vetevendosje Movement, Rexhep Selimi.

On June 24, a day before Thaci was due to arrive in Washington for a high-profile meeting with US President Donald Trump with Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, the prosecutors made the indictment public, even though it hadn’t yet been confirmed by a judge.

The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office said it was necessary to publicise the charges because of repeated efforts by Thaci and Veseli to obstruct and undermine the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which has a mandate to try ex-KLA fighters for alleged war crimes and political killings committed during and just after the war from 1998 to 2000.

“By taking these actions, Thaci and Veseli have put their personal interests ahead of the victims of their crimes, the rule of law, and all people of Kosovo,” the prosecution said in a statement.

“The indictment alleges that Thaci, Veseli and the other charged suspects [Krasniqi and Selimi] are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders. The crimes alleged in the Indictment involve hundreds of known victims of Kosovo Albanian, Serb, Roma, and other ethnicities and include political opponents,” it added.

Thaci strongly denied the accusations and said he would resign if the indictment was confirmed.

The indictment of Thaci was seen as a watershed moment not only for Kosovo but also for the West’s attitude to the country and its attempts to push forward the EU-mediated dialogue process aimed at normalising relations with Serbia.  The timing could hardly have been more dramatic, and brought accusations from Thaci’s camp of a plot to scupper the White House meeting.

In August, Thaci made another move, submitting a proposal for constitutional amendments that appeared to be intended to change the Specialist Chambers’ mandate and limit their scope for action. However, his proposal was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

There was a further unexpected twist in the story in September, when the KLA War Veterans’ Organisation announced that it had got hold of more than 4,000 case documents from the Hague prosecutors, including a list of witnesses, raising questions about the court’s ability to keep case files confidential and protected witnesses’ identities secure.

Witness protection was one of the key reasons why the Specialist Chambers was established outside Kosovo – under EU and US pressure – and staffed by internationals, although it is part of Kosovo’s justice system. Previous trials of KLA ex-guerrillas both inside Kosovo and at the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia have been marred by the intimidation of witnesses.

The Specialist Chambers reacted quickly to the document leak. EU security police arrested the leaders of the KLA War Veterans’ Organisation, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, and transferred them to The Hague, where they have denied charges of obstructing justice and intimidating witnesses.

In November, the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office also released documents  accusing Thaci and his co-accused of having tried to interfere with potential prosecution witnesses.

‘Freedom has a name’

A Kosovo Liberation Army veteran protests against the announcement of war crimes charges against Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and other ex-guerrillas in July. Photo: EPA-EFE/STR.

On November 5, after the Specialist Chambers confirmed the indictment charging Thaci and his fellow former guerrillas, he announced that he would step down as Kosovo’s president in order to “defend the integrity of the state”.

The same day, the 52-year-old, who has been a dominant figure in Kosovo politics since the war, was arrested and transferred to The Hague. He and the three others – Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi – all pleaded not guilty.

Human rights organisations welcomed the indictment. Human Rights Watch said it was “a positive step for justice as these alleged crimes have hung over Kosovo for two decades”.

Bekim Blakaj, director of Humanitarian Law Centre Kosovo, which monitors war crimes cases, also said that confirmation of the indictment was a serious step forward by the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.

“These two institutions have to give answer the victims’ expectations, as well as to establish the truth about the alleged crimes in [Council of Europe rapporteur] Dick Marty’s report,” he added.

KLA war veterans were furious at the indictment, however. A nationwide campaign was launched under the slogan “Freedom has a name” by artists, veterans and politicians as a sign of support for the former KLA leaders facing trial.

Meanwhile two funds were set up in December to collect money for the defence – one for Thaci and the other for Veseli. These came in addition to the unlimited state financial support that Kosovo already offers for those charged by the Hague court.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama also added his voice to the campaign, describing the charges against Thaci and the others as “fabrications about the purity of [the KLA’s] heroic war”.

Domestic war crime trials crawl forwards

Darko Tasic with police at Prizren Basic Court after being convicted in June of involvement in the Krusha e Vogel/Mala Krusha massacre. Photo: BIRN.

Several war crimes prosecutions continued within Kosovo this year, but at a slow pace.

In March, Zoran Vukotic, a former Serbian police officer in Kosovo who is already serving a war crimes sentence for torturing prisoners, was charged with raping a 16-year-old girl during the conflict in 1999.

The Supreme Court in April ordered a retrial of former KLA unit commander Remzi Shala, who last year was sentenced to 14 years in prison of the kidnapping in 1998 of an ethnic Albanian man who was later found dead.

Wartime Serb police reservist Darko Tasic was found guilty in June of taking part in a massacre of 109 ethnic Albanians in the village of Krusha e Vogel/Mala Krusha in 1999 and sentenced to 22 years in prison. However, his sentence was halved on appeal in December.

Another former Serbian reservist policeman, Nenad Arsic, was found guilty in December of war crimes against civilians in Pristina in 1999 and sentenced to six years in prison.

A handful of war-related trials are ongoing in Kosovo, but more could be held if proper legal cooperation could be established between Pristina and Belgrade, said prosecutor Drita Hajdari, the head of the department for war crime cases at Kosovo’s Special Prosecution.

“This year we have opened many cases for war crimes committed in Kosovo, but we will not be able to finalise them without Kosovo and Serbia cooperating at the political level,” Hajdari told BIRN.