Moscow speaks out: "They will be held accountable for crimes against Serbs"

“It is obvious that futile attempts will continue to cleanse the project of creating a Kosovo quasi-state of its bloody legacy. We believe that Kosovo Albanian militants must ultimately face just punishment for their terrible acts, to the full extent of the law,” Zakharova said, commenting on the verdict against Hashim Thaçi and other leaders of the so-called KLA.

In her assessment, the selectivity and politicization of justice are unacceptable.

She said the verdict handed down by the Specialist Chambers in The Hague against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi and his associates was overdue and questionable, although she noted that the very fact that they were convicted of war crimes deserved approval.

“Thaçi and his associates were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 13 to 25 years. The fact that they were found guilty of war crimes, including torture and murder, certainly deserves approval,” she emphasized.

Zakharova added that for the Serbian people, whom the West continues to try to hold fully responsible for the tragic events surrounding the breakup of Yugoslavia, this represents further confirmation that the notion of collective guilt imposed on Serbs is unfounded.

Nevertheless, she stressed that justice for Serbs could be described as having been served only in a limited, conditional sense.

“The verdict is clearly overdue and raises numerous questions. After spending six years examining thousands of pieces of evidence and hearing hundreds of witnesses, the Specialist Chambers failed to muster the courage or demonstrate the sense of responsibility necessary to apply the degree of judicial rigor that was so urgently required in this case,” Zakharova said.

Ramon van Flymen / AFP / Profimedia

According to her, the Court found that Thaçi and his associates pursued a joint criminal objective, for which an entire network of prisons was established.

As she stated, individuals suspected of disloyalty were held by force and tortured there, 96 prisoners were killed, and it was established that Thaçi personally participated in the commission of these crimes, the diplomat recalled.

Zakharova added that the group represented a classic criminal organization, whose activities consisted of terrorist attacks against representatives of the legitimate Yugoslav authorities and crimes committed against the Serbian population in the region.

She added that numerous civilians were killed at the hands of members of the so-called KLA, including many Albanians who had not shown sufficient loyalty to the project of independence for so-called Kosovo.

“It is worth recalling that the West attempted to justify NATO’s armed aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999 precisely by invoking support for Kosovo Albanian militants. At the time, Thaçi was portrayed in the United States and Europe as a progressive democratic leader and the face of the ‘Kosovo project.’ Now that romanticized image has been definitively shattered. It is clear to everyone that NATO’s notorious ‘humanitarian intervention’ relied on hardened criminals,” Zakharova said.

According to her, the involvement of leaders of the so-called KLA in crimes against humanity was deemed unproven, while credible information about their role in organizing the illegal trafficking of human organs was disregarded.

She said that crimes committed against Serbs after June 1999, including the March 2004 pogrom, were left out of consideration.

“The very nature of the so-called KLA, which is criminal at its core, still awaits an appropriate legal assessment,” Zakharova added.

She emphasized that the case will only be concluded once the appeals process has been completed.

“As the disappointing record of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has shown, the appeals process can result in the complete acquittal of even notorious war criminals. The most prominent example is the scandalous acquittal of Croatian General Ante Gotovina, a participant in the notorious ‘Operation Storm,’ who had previously been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the ethnic cleansing and mass killing of Serbs in Croatia,” Zakharova concluded.

The Specialist Chambers in The Hague, which have jurisdiction over crimes committed during the Kosovo conflict, found former president of the self-proclaimed republic Thaçi guilty of war crimes committed in 1998–1999 and sentenced him to 25 years in prison, with time already spent in detention credited toward his sentence.