Kosovo President Resigns to Face War Crimes Charges

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has confirmed that he has been indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
 
Thaci told a news conference on Thursday that, because of the indictment, he was following through on a pledge to resign from his position.
 
Thaci was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group that fought against Belgrade’s security forces in the 1998-99 war.
 
A Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) has accused Thaci and other suspects of being “criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders,” as well as the “enforced disappearance of persons, persecution, and torture.”
 
The alleged crimes involved “hundreds of known victims of Kosovo Albanian, Serb, Roma, and other ethnicities and include political opponents,” according to the SPO.
 
Thaci has denied involvement in any war crimes.
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