Daily Quiz | On war criminals

On September 16, The Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers convicted former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci of war crimes including murder, torture, and illegal detention during the 1998–1999 conflict. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The court found Thaci guilty of orchestrating the murders of 96 people, torturing 303 individuals, cruel treatment of 49 people, and arbitrarily detaining 385 people, none of whom were active combatants at the time.

The ruling sparked shock and anger in Kosovo, where thousands gathered in central Pristina to protest the verdict. Some protesters clashed with riot police outside the headquarters of the European Union's Rule of Law Mission (EULEX). Meanwhile, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic criticized the tribunal for not convicting Thaci and other former KLA leaders of crimes against humanity.

Thaci remains a revered figure among many Kosovo Albanians despite his conviction; he was seen as a hero of Kosovo’s independence movement. The verdict deepens tensions between ethnic Albanian Kosovars and Serbs, both within Kosovo and in Serbia.