Kosovo President charged with war crimes including murder, torture, kidnapping

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci along with nine other former separatist fighters was charged with war crimes, including murder, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution, and torture on June 23 by an international probing agency which was investigating their role in the country's 1998-99 independence war with Serbia. Thaci has also been charged with crimes against humanity and his role in the ethnic cleansing of Serbs and other ethnicities is also being probed. Keeping in mind the recent development, Thaci cancelled his scheduled trip to the United States, where he was supposed to held talks with the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the White House.

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Richard Grenell, the U.S. envoy for the Kosovo talks took to his official Twitter handle to inform about the recent development as he wrote, "The President of Kosovo has just informed us that he has cancelled his trip to Washington, D.C. following the announcement made by the Special Prosecutors Office. I respect his decision not to attend the discussions until the legal issues of those allegations are settled." The June 27 discussions will now be led by President Vucic and Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti of Kosovo.

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Ten-count indictment

The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) on April 24, 2020, filed a ten-count Indictment with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) for the Court’s consideration, charging Hashim Tachi, Kadri Veseli, and others with a range of crimes. The Indictment alleges that Hashim Tachi, Kadri Veseli, and the other charged suspects 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.

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"The Specialist Prosecutor has deemed it necessary to issue this public notice of charges because of repeated efforts by Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli to obstruct and undermine the work of the KSC. Mr Thaci and Mr Veseli are believed to have carried out a secret campaign to overturn the law creating the Court and otherwise obstruct the work of the Court in an attempt to ensure that they do not face justice. By taking these actions, Mr Thaci and Mr Veseli have put their personal interests ahead of the victims of their crimes, the rule of law, and all people of Kosovo," Kosovo Specialist Chambers said in a press statement published on its website. 

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(Image Credit: AP)