A special EU-backed court in The Hague has convicted former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders of war crimes. Thaci, who led the independence struggle in the 1990s, was found responsible for four counts of war crimes, including murder, torture, and arbitrary detention, carried out during the territory's violent break from Serbia.
The tribunal sentenced the four former members to long prison terms. This ruling marks one of the final verdicts in a series of landmark trials arising from the bloody dissolution of the former Yugoslavia.
The convictions have caused consternation in Kosovo, sparking reactions among both political leaders and citizens on the streets of Pristina.