Hague Court Delays Thaci and KLA Leaders Verdict
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers pushed the first-instance verdict for four former KLA leaders from July 20 to September 16, citing the volume of evidence and the complexity of the case.
- The first-instance verdict will now be delivered on September 16, 2026 at 10 a.m., instead of the originally scheduled July 20.
- Prosecutors are seeking 45 years in prison for each of the four defendants.
- The trial panel cited the volume of evidence and the complexity of the case, in which 5,467 exhibits were presented.
- The defendants have been in detention in The Hague since November 2020, with the trial opening in April 2023.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague have postponed the first-instance verdict against four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army from July 20 to September 16, 2026. The trial panel specified that the ruling against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi will be delivered at 10 a.m., in a public session broadcast in Albanian, Serbian and English.
The panel cited the volume of evidence and the complexity of the case as its reasons for moving the date, explaining that the additional time was needed to allow a full and sound assessment of the evidence. All four men face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, across six counts of crimes against humanity and four counts of war crimes. Prosecutors have proposed a sentence of 45 years in prison for each defendant.
Why has the proceeding taken this long?
The answer lies in figures that make this one of the most voluminous cases before any international court in recent history. The defendants have been held in detention in The Hague since November 2020, while the trial itself opened in April 2023. Over that period, around 270 witnesses were heard, 5,467 exhibits were presented, and the hearing transcripts run to 29,238 pages.
Thaci stepped down as president of Kosovo at the end of 2020, shortly after the indictment was confirmed. Veseli headed the Kosovo intelligence service and the Democratic Party of Kosovo, while Selimi and Krasniqi belonged to the inner circle of the wartime and postwar leadership. All four have rejected the charges throughout the proceeding.
Although the Specialist Chambers apply Kosovo law and sit with Kosovo judges, they are physically located in The Hague, beyond the reach of local pressures. The institution grew out of a Council of Europe report and was set up to prosecute crimes committed during and immediately after the conflict in Kosovo between 1998 and 2000.
What the delay means for the region
The new date shifts one of the region’s most politically sensitive trials to mid-autumn, at a moment when Pristina is still awaiting the outcome of its internal political crisis and the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue remains stalled. For the Serbian public, the verdict carries symbolic weight because the most senior former military and political figures of the conflict are on trial for the first time.
Reactions in Pristina range from claims that the liberation movement is being put on trial to appeals to wait for the outcome of the proceeding. Belgrade, for its part, insists that the verdict must answer the question of responsibility toward the victims. Until September 16, it remains open how a conviction or an acquittal would resonate through the already strained relations between Belgrade, Pristina and Brussels.
After nearly three years of trial and five and a half thousand exhibits, one question remains: will the September 16 verdict bring legal closure, or open a new political dispute across the region?
