(ANSA-AFP) - THE HAGUE, 09 NOV - Kosovo's former president
Hashim Thaci pleaded not guilty to war crimes charges in the
1990s war against Serbia as he appeared for the first time at a
special international court in The Hague on Monday. The one-time
guerilla liberation hero resigned as president on Thursday and
flew to the Netherlands where he was placed in the detention
centre of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers tribunal. Thaci, 52, is
charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity including
murder and torture during an alleged campaign by the ethnic
Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against civilians it
deemed to be its enemies. "The indictment is completely without
basis, and I plead not guilty to all the charges in the
indictment," Thaci told the court, rising to his feet after the
judge asked him if he wished to plead guilty or not guilty. "I
understood them, I heard them today, I read them, and I do not
agree with any of them." His lawyer David Hooper complained
about Thaci's treatment, saying it was "disgraceful" that he was
held in handcuffs outside the court, and saying he intended to
seek his conditional release. Going by the nom de guerre
"Snake", Thaci was the political chief of the rebel KLA, which
battled Serb forces for the independence of the southern
province in a bitter conflict that claimed more than 13,000
lives. After downing his guns following the war Thaci joined
politics, leading then US vice president Joe Biden to once hail
him as the "George Washington of Kosovo. (ANSA-AFP).
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