Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the start of his trial at a special court in The Hague as supporters of the once illustrious leader gathered in the streets, Reuters and News reported. ro.

Hashim Thaci and three other defendants face 10 counts of persecution, murder, torture and kidnapping during and shortly after the 1998-1999 uprising that eventually led to Kosovo’s independence from Serbia and made Thaci a hero in the eyes of many of his countrymen and abroad.

Prosecutor Alex Whiting said the four political opponents, as well as ethnic minorities – Serbs and Roma – imprisoned hundreds of people in Kosovo in appalling conditions and were responsible for the deaths of 102 of them. Most of the victims were members of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority, which makes up 90 percent of the population, the prosecutor said.

“There can be no justification for arbitrarily detaining civilians and non-combatants and subjecting them to violence, torture and murder. That’s why prosecutors brought this case to protect the rule of law and the principle that no one is above the law, even in wartime,” Whiting said.

The four defendants, all leaders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrilla movement who later entered peacetime politics, pleaded not guilty shortly after the trial began.

“I understand the charges and I am completely innocent,” 54-year-old Hashim Thaci told the court. Dressed in a black striped suit, Tachi, tall and stocky, looked pale, his hair graying after two years in prison.

More than 13,000 people, mostly Kosovo Albanians, are said to have died during the war, when Kosovo was still a province of Serbia, then under the rule of Belgrade-based leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Thousands of Kosovars gathered in the capital Pristina on Sunday to protest the trial, and on Monday hundreds gathered outside a court in The Hague, holding banners depicting Thaci and chanting “UCK” in support of the independence movement. .

“They are not only judging the just war of the KLA, but also the state of Kosovo,” said a resident of Kosovo.

The lawyers of the alleged victims of the four co-accused told the court that the people they represent represent different categories of Kosovo society – teachers, policemen, farmers, construction workers, who were kidnapped at gunpoint. “For each of them there was a day that changed their lives forever or, in many cases, ended their lives,” said Simon Lowes, the victim’s legal representative.

The process can take years

The judges adjourned the hearing until the end of the speech of the lawyers of the victims. Before leaving the courtroom, Thaci waved to the leadership of his political party, who were seated in the public gallery above.

The case will continue on Tuesday with the opening statement of Thaci’s lawyer.

The trial is likely to be lengthy as prosecutors have said they will need two years to present their evidence.

Hashim Thaci resigned as president shortly after his indictment in November 2020 and was transferred to custody in The Hague.

During his tenure as the leader of the KLA and a well-known politician, Thaci worked closely with many Western leaders. Joe Biden, when he was vice president of the United States, called him the “George Washington of Kosovo”, and Thaci was on his way to a meeting at the White House, under Donald Trump, when his impeachment was announced.

“Your associates are on trial!” – was written on a protest banner at a rally in front of the court in The Hague.

The trial comes two weeks after the permanent international war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged war crimes-like deportation of Ukrainian children.

The Special Courts for Kosovo, located in the Netherlands and staffed by international judges and lawyers, were established in 2015 to hear cases against former KLA fighters. However, many Kosovars believe that the court is biased towards the KLA, and fear that the court will downplay its historic role in paving the way for Kosovo’s liberation from the repressive Serbian regime.

The court was created separately from the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was also based in The Hague and which tried and convicted mainly Serbian officials for war crimes in the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was also tried before the ICTY, but died in 2006 before the verdict.

In 1999, Thaci assumed the position of leader of the so-called Provisional Government of Kosovo and Supreme Commander of the KLA. In early 2008, he was elected prime minister of Kosovo, and a month later the region unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.

Thaci became president of the partially internationally recognized republic in 2016, but resigned in November 2020 when he was indicted. Since then, he has been detained in The Hague.