Kosovo’s former president Hashim Thaçi was sentenced to 25 years by a tribunal in The Hague on Wednesday, September 16, for war crimes, the court said in a long-awaited verdict likely to spark outrage in the Balkan country. The judges said Thaçi, who was tried along with three other former guerrilla leaders, was guilty of illegal arrests, torture, murder and cruel treatment committed by guerrilla fighters.
ICC judges found Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders guilty of war crimes during the 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia, but among many Kosovo Albanians, the four are still widely lauded as heroes.
Video: AFP