Kosovo President in a televised address said he was willing to resign

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said that if the indictment of the specialized Prosecutor’s office in the Hague on events of the war in 1998-1999 confirmed, he would immediately resign. The head of the partially recognized state said the evening of 29 June in a televised address on channel RTK. The text of the speech leads the website of the TV channel.

According to Thaci, in the near future he will meet with leading politicians and will discuss the next steps. He said he is not going to evade international justice, and guarantee that you will not appear before the Tribunal as the President.

The accusations against Thaci considers untrue and biased.

“I might have made political mistakes, but the military did not commit crimes ever. Even if I was back in the dark days of Slobodan Milosevic (President of Yugoslavia in 1997-2000. – “GORDON”), I would have done the same thing, answering bullet for bullet of the enemy, nurturing a thirst for freedom. But I never took revenge on ordinary Serbs, Roma or Albanians,” said the President.

He recalled that the prosecution in his address sent to the Tribunal, which he supported.

For many years one of the citizens of Serbia are not prosecuted for war crimes, including ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Albanian population, declared Thaci. However, he says that after the war in 1999, were engaged only in peaceful politics, achieving normal relations with Serbia and promoting the European integration of their country.

On 24 June, the specialized Prosecutor’s office in Kosovo, working in the Hague, announced that a special chamber of the Tribunal for Kosovo, directed the indictment of 10 points against the President of Kosovo Thaci, the former Parliament speaker Kadri Veseli and others. They are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including about 100 killings, enforced disappearance, persecution and torture during the Yugoslav / Kosovo crisis of 1998-1999.

In January 2016 the Netherlands gave the green light to the establishment in the Hague of new international Tribunal that deals with crimes in Kosovo committed during the 1998-1999 conflict.

In February 2016 Thaci was elected President of the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo. During the war for independence he was a field commander.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and was recognized by 100 countries. Serbia does not recognize the secession of Kosovo and considers its territory.