Hashim Thaci

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Country's President Charged With War Crimes

Kosovo leader calls off White House trip

(Newser) - Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and nine other former separatist fighters were indicted Wednesday on a range of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges, including murder, by an international prosecutor probing their actions against ethnic Serbs and others during and after Kosovo’s 1998-99 independence war with Serbia. The charges...

Kosovo PM Linked to Organ Trafficking

Rights watchdog accuses KLA of killing civilians for kidney trade

(Newser) - Kosovo Liberation Army leaders—including Prime Minister Hashim Thaci—ran a Mafia-style crime ring that trafficked in drugs and harvested organs, according to a Council of Europe probe. The human rights watchdog's 2-year inquiry found that men under Thaci's command shot civilians after the 1999 Kosovo war so their kidneys...

Kosovo Declares Independence
Kosovo Declares Independence

Kosovo Declares Independence

Serbia enraged as US, EU expected to recognize new country tomorrow

(Newser) - Kosovo's parliament declared independence from Serbia today by a unanimous vote, the BBC reports. "We have waited for this day for a very long time,” said PM Hashim Thaci, before reading the declaration, which promised respect for the Serbian minority. Serbia’s PM, meanwhile, slammed the US and...

Serbia Softens Threats Over Kosovo
Serbia Softens Threats Over Kosovo

Serbia Softens Threats Over Kosovo

Belgrade won't sever ties with countries that recognize new state

(Newser) - After earlier threatening to sever ties with countries recognizing an independent Kosovo, Serbia softened somewhat today in announcing it would merely pulls its ambassadors in those nations, the Guardian reports. Kosovo is likely to make official its break from Serbia—a move that worries the province's ethnic Serbs—on Sunday,...

New Ex-Reb Prime Minister Vows Kosovo Independence

Promises independence from Serbia by Dec. 10

(Newser) - A one-time rebel leader promising independence from Serbia surged to victory in yesterday's parliamentary elections in Kosovo. Prime Minister-elect Hashim Thaci, formerly a head of the Kosovo Liberation Army, vowed as he cast his ballot that he will declare Kosovo independent "immediately" if United Nations mediation fails to deliver...

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