The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague has made clear that it does not consider the case against four former KLA leaders closed, despite the total sentence of 81 years in prison. According to the position announced by Chief Prosecutor Kimberly West, the institution will consider appealing parts of the judgment where no convictions were issued on six counts of the indictment related to crimes against humanity.
Sentences announced by the trial panel
According to the ruling, Hashim Thaçi and Jakup Krasniqi were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, Kadri Veseli to 18 years and Rexhep Selimi to 13 years. The trial panel found them individually criminally responsible for war crimes including unlawful or arbitrary arrest and detention, cruel treatment, torture, and unlawful killing.
In total, the judgment links the convictions to unlawful arrest or detention of at least 385 people, cruel treatment of at least 49 people, torture of 303 people, and unlawful killing of at least 96 people. According to the court, these crimes were committed against hundreds of civilians and persons not taking part in hostilities.
Why the Prosecution is signaling an appeal
This is precisely where the tension of the next phase lies: the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office has focused not on the sentences handed down, but on what is missing from the ruling. Kimberly West said the institution will carefully analyze the entire judgment, with particular focus on the six counts of the indictment for crimes against humanity for which there were no convictions.
This position shows that the Prosecution does not regard the legal battle as concluded by the first-instance ruling. In essence, the Prosecution’s view is that the judgment recognized a significant part of the criminal responsibility, but not the full accusatory framework it had brought forward.
The SPO’s political and legal message
In her public reaction, West called the decision important for the rule of law in Kosovo and for justice for victims, insisting that the case concerns individual criminal responsibility and not the trial of a historical narrative or of the KLA itself.
According to this official position, the prosecution was not brought against the Kosovo Liberation Army as a structure, nor against Kosovo’s war for independence, but against specific individuals for their actions. This distinction is one of the most politically sensitive points in the entire process and is expected to remain at the center of public debate during the appeal phase as well.
The scope of the evidence and the period of the crimes
The Prosecution said that during the presentation of its case it called 125 witnesses for direct testimony in the courtroom and submitted around 3,000 material exhibits in several languages. This shows the procedural weight of the case file, even though the full value of this package will continue to be tested through the filter of further judicial stages.
According to the judgment, the crimes established were committed in the period from April 1998 until June 20, 1999, in various municipalities in Kosovo and in two districts in northern Albania. This geographic and temporal scope makes the case one of the most serious and most debated proceedings related to the war in Kosovo.
The appeal phase is now expected to determine whether the announced sentences will remain limited to the war crimes proven at first instance, or whether the Prosecution will succeed in bringing the crimes against humanity charges back under review.
Beyond the official wording, the case remains a major test for the standard of proof, for the way individual responsibility is separated from the weight of history, and for the credibility of international justice itself in a case carrying a high political burden.