Thousands of people have protested in Kosovo’s capital against the trial of former Kosovo ⁠Liberation Army (KLA) leaders, including a former president, who are accused of war crimes during the 1998-1999 war for independence.

Pristina’s main square on Tuesday was filled with people protesting against The Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court as the country marked the 18th anniversary of its independence.

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The court in the Netherlands is hearing closing arguments this week in the trial of former President ⁠Hashim Thaci, former Speakers of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veseli, and former lawmaker Rexhep Selimi. They were arrested in 2020.

The former KLA commanders are charged with persecution, murder, torture and forced disappearances of people during and shortly after the 1998-1999 uprising, which eventually brought independence for the Albanian-majority region from Serbia.

Thaci, 57, served as prime minister, foreign minister and president of independent Kosovo from 2008 to 2020.

More than 13,000 ⁠people – the majority Kosovo Albanians – are estimated ⁠to have been killed during the conflict when Kosovo was still a province of Serbia under then-nationalist President Slobodan Milosevic, whose forces violently cracked down on ethnic Albanians.

Judges are expected to deliver a final verdict within three months. The defendants have denied all the charges while prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 45 years for each defendant.

‘Liberation war’

Former KLA leaders are seen by many in Kosovo as national liberation heroes. Many protesters wore KLA uniforms. Others waved KLA, Kosovo and Albanian flags. Supporters held placards reading, “Freedom has a name,” and held photos of Thaci and others captioned “Heroes of War and ⁠Peace”.

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The local news website Balkan Insight reported buses were organised from every municipality to transport people to Pristina.

Ismajl Tasholli, one of the organisers, told the crowd: “KLA’s war remains a liberation war, and this cannot be undone. If justice deviates, we are here to tell them: ‘Not in my name, not in our name,’” the website quoted him as saying.

Miran Zeka, 49, who came from Albania to protest in Pristina, said, “Those who deserve to be in The Hague are the occupiers, not the liberators.”

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, staffed ‌by international judges and lawyers, was set up in 2015 to handle war crimes cases under Kosovo law against ex-KLA fighters.

The war crimes tribunal was set up ‌outside ‌the small Balkan country because of worries about witness intimidation.