“I resign as of today,” Thaci told a news conference in the Kosovo capital, Pristina, adding that his sources had informed him that the Kosovo Specialist Chamber in The Hague had confirmed his indictment.
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United States Congresswoman and Democratic Party member Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday revealed that she held a meeting with Syrian Presiden...
Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaci, has resigned and is set to face the International Criminal Court in The Hague, after an indictment charging him with crimes against humanity and war crimes was confirmed in court.
ReplyDelete“As I promised I will not go before the court as President of Kosovo,” Thaci said during a Thursday press conference in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina. The leader explained his pre-trial resignation, saying he wishes to avoid harming “the integrity of the Kosovo presidency, the state of Kosovo and the people of Kosovo.”
The indictment was filed in June by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. It included not only the president, but several other former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members turned-politicians, including Kadri Veseli, leader of the Democratic Party.
KLA was an ethnically Albanian guerrilla group, which fought Serbian control and sought to separate Kosovo from Yugoslavia and Serbia in the 1990s. It was active through the 90s and the 2000s, until Kosovo declared independence in 2008.
At that time, Thaci’s nom de guerre was ‘the Snake’, for his ability to evade authorities. While a KLA commander, the future president was allegedly involved in assassinating Kosovar politicians and military officers, for which Pristina’s District court sentenced him in absentia to 10 years in prison in 1997.
Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who suddenly resigned and was taken into the custody of a war crimes tribunal on Thursday, will face a judge for the first time on Monday, the court said.
ReplyDeleteThaci, a wartime hero turned politician, arrived at the detention centre of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Thursday night after a war crimes indictment was confirmed against him.
His sudden departure could bring political instability to Kosovo, a fledgling democracy where the 52-year-old former guerrilla became the first prime minister in 2008 and was elected president in 2016.