‘A Painful Moment for Kosovo and the Albanian People’: Regional Reactions After the Hague Verdict Against Hashim Thaçi

North Macedonia’s Parliament Speaker, Afrim Gashi, said today that no court decision can deny the fact that the former KLA leaders — Hashim Thaçi, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli and Rexhep Selimi — belong to a glorious chapter of Kosovo’s history, after the first-instance verdicts announced today by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

According to the verdicts, Thaçi and Krasniqi were each given single sentences of 25 years in prison, Veseli 18 years and Selimi 13 years; all four were found guilty of war crimes — unlawful detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder — while being acquitted of crimes against humanity.

In a Facebook post, Gashi wrote that the verdict is first-instance and that “the fight for justice continues,” calling for a joint stance “with dignity and calm,” with hearts and minds on the liberators and their families.

In Montenegro there were divided reactions. Deputy parliament speaker and Albanian Forum MP Nikola Camaj called the verdict a “painful moment” for Kosovo and the Albanian people and expressed his conviction that it will not stand on appeal. Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister and Albanian Forum leader Nik Gjeloshaj called the verdict “extremely unjust,” stressing that the KLA’s war was a liberation war and that every Albanian holds it in their heart.

These statements provoked a reaction from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who accused regional politicians of double standards toward war-crimes verdicts and asked whether Montenegro’s European integration would be called into question because of these stances. Meanwhile, the cabinet of Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović declared that respect for the decisions of international criminal courts “is not a matter of political choice” but Montenegro’s international obligation and one of the foundations of the rule of law, warning against attempts by public officials to glorify war criminals.

On the other hand, the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats in Bosnia, Milorad Dodik, called the sentence against Thaçi and the others a “caricature of justice” which — according to him — serves to relativize the crimes against Serbs.

Source: Danas