On September 16, after more than two years of trial proceedings, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague are expected to deliver their verdict against former President Hashim Thaçi and former KLA leaders Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.
The four defendants face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, all of which they have denied while pleading not guilty.
As the verdict approaches, anticipation is particularly strong in areas closely associated with the KLA war. In Drenica and Llap, residents are expressing hope that the trial will end with the acquittal and return of the four former KLA leaders to Kosovo.
In Burojë, Skenderaj, the birthplace of Hashim Thaçi, the trial in The Hague has become part of everyday conversations. Kadri Thaçi, 62, a fellow villager of the former president, says he is waiting for the verdict with hope and does not want to think about the possibility of a conviction.
“If they are convicted, God forbid… I would feel terrible. I don’t even want to think about it,” he said, describing Thaçi as a gentle and kind person whom he has considered special since childhood.
In Likoc, Drenas, where the KLA General Headquarters was based during the war, residents are also looking toward September 16 with optimism. KLA veteran Nusret Kadriu, who fought alongside the defendants, says he has closely followed the proceedings in The Hague and that the trial has been deeply emotional for him.
Some residents of the area are planning to travel to The Hague on the day of the verdict. Dritani, a Likoc resident who has lived in Austria for decades, hopes September 16 will become a day of celebration if the four former KLA leaders are acquitted.
In Suhareka, expectations are similarly centered on an acquittal. Jemin Buzhala from Budakova, who has lived in Italy for years, says he is awaiting the verdict with joy, while 70-year-old Hasan Selimi believes there is no reason for the former KLA leaders to be convicted.
In Upper Llapashtica, Podujeva, where the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office alleges that detainees were held and mistreated during the war, residents say their memories of that period are different.
Burim Muçiqi, who was only eight when the war began in the area, recalls the shelling in December 1998 and the displacement of residents toward Popova. He says KLA members accompanied them and never left them alone.
KLA veteran Muharrem Muçiqi, who joined the KLA in 1998, rejects allegations of mistreatment in Llapashtica. According to him, residents had been under constant pressure from Serbian forces, while the arrival of the KLA brought greater organization and protection to the area.
For him, an acquittal of the four former KLA leaders would represent justice, while a conviction would amount to an “injustice” driven by political motives.
However, trust in the Specialist Chambers remains low in Kosovo. According to the Group for Legal and Political Studies, citizens have given the court an average score of just 2.56 out of 5 when assessing their confidence that it will deliver justice fairly and independently.
Since their arrest in 2020, protests and rallies supporting Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi have been held in Kosovo and among the diaspora.
For families of missing persons, meanwhile, the Hague proceedings have a different dimension. Jasmina Zhivkoviq says she has spent 27 years waiting to learn what happened to her father, one of around 1,600 people still missing from the Kosovo war. She had hoped the Specialist Chambers would help shed light on cases of missing persons, but her father’s case falls outside the time period covered by the indictment against the four former KLA leaders.
While the generation that experienced the war is following the verdict closely, some young people in Pristina appear less engaged with the proceedings. Some say they have not followed the trial, while others believe the former KLA leaders are innocent but acknowledge that they would like to know more about the war and the Hague proceedings.
On September 16, one of the most significant cases before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers is expected to reach its verdict. In Drenica, Llap, Suhareka and among the diaspora, the day is being awaited with the hope that the verdict will pave the way for Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi to return home.
