Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has been found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison, a Kosovo war crimes tribunal ruled Wednesday.
Thaci, 58, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes including murder, torture and illegal detention committed as top commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the territory’s break from Serbia in the 1990s.
Prosecutors at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague had asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.
Thaci and the other defendants had pleaded not guilty to war crimes and crimes against humanity.