Kosovo President to Resign If War Crimes Charges Confirmed

(Bloomberg) -- Kosovo’s president rejected international prosecutors’ accusations that he engaged in war crimes in the conflict with Serbia more than 20 years ago, but said he’d step down if the charges are confirmed.

The 10-count indictment against President Hashim Thaci from the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague has cast a shadow on efforts to resolve a standoff with Serbia. It may also kick off a race for his job in a country where most top politicians fought alongside him in the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, the subject of the prosecutor’s work.

The Balkan neighbors have been locked in a dispute over Kosovo’s sovereignty since it unilaterally declared independence in 2008, a decade after they fought the last of the wars that broke up the former Yugoslavia.

Thaci dismissed the allegations that he and other separatist fighters engaged in the “enforced disappearance of persons, persecution and torture” and nearly 100 murders. But he signaled that if a pre-trial judge reviewing the indictment confirms the charges, he’ll step down.

“I will consult with political leaders about the next steps,” Thaci said late Monday in a televised speech. “I will not face justice from this office. If the indictment is confirmed, I will resign immediately.”

Scuppered Talks

The indictment has complicated talks between Kosovo and Serbia, with Thaci hearing about it when he was on board a flight to meet his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, at the White House in Washington D.C. last week. Thaci said he was innocent.

“I may have made political mistakes in peace, but never war crimes,” he said.

The planned U.S. meeting, which was canceled, was aimed at discussions on economic cooperation under the auspices of President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell.

Negotiating a final peace agreement that would end decades of hostilities remains the key condition for both nations to accelerate their accession to the European Union. Years of EU-mediated talks on normalizing ties between the wartime foes stalled in 2018 but are expected to resume next month in Brussels, possibly followed by a summit in Paris on July 17.

Premier Avdullah Hoti is expected to represent his country. He replaced Albin Kurti as the head of the government after Kurti was ousted in a confidence motion he said was orchestrated by Grenell and Thaci, who has tried to steer talks away from EU mediation and toward the U.S.

The court in The Hague, which is investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs, Roma, other minorities and political dissidents during and after the 1998-99 war, said it decided to issue the notice because of repeated efforts by Thaci and others to obstruct and undermine its work.

Further indictments from the Special Prosecutor’s Office may have “great consequences for other political actors” amid uncertainty who else among them may also face war crimes charges, Roland Gjoni, a researcher at University College Dublin, said in an interview published by the Center for Security Studies and Development in Macedonia.

“Kosovo may be heading toward a dramatic reconfiguration of the political landscape,” Gjoni said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.