AMSTERDAM, Sept 16 (Bernama-dpa) -- The former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, has been sentenced to 25 years in jail by a special court in The Hague for war crimes, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
The court ruled on Wednesday that Thaçi was responsible for 96 cases of murder. He was also charged with other serious crimes, such as torture and cruel treatment.
The 58-year-old had previously described himself as "completely innocent".
He received the verdict on Wednesday without showing any emotion.
The prosecution had sought a 45-year prison sentence for Thaçi for the crimes committed in the late 1990s.
Nearly 300 witnesses testified in the trial and 155 victims participated in the proceedings.
According to the prosecution, Thaçi and three co-defendants were part of the leadership of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which is alleged to have committed crimes against humanity.
Thaçi served between 2008 and 2020 as Kosovo's prime minister, foreign minister and president. He resigned from office to face the court in The Hague.
All four defendants held leading positions in the KLA and high political office after the war.
The KLA fought from 1998 to 1999 for Kosovo's independence from Serbia. That was eventually achieved with the help of the NATO military alliance.
The special tribunal was established in 2015 and relocated to The Hague for security reasons.
-- BERNAMA-dpa