THAÇI SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS IN PRISON

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 16 /SRNA/ - Former Kosovo Liberation Army /KLA/ leader Hashim Thaçi was sentenced today in The Hague to a single term of 25 years in prison, with the time spent in detention credited towards the sentence.

The Trial Panel in The Hague said an aggravating circumstance for Thaçi was that he had abused his position in order to pursue a common criminal objective. As a mitigating circumstance, the panel took into account the fact that Thaçi had contributed to efforts to establish the Specialist Chambers. The sentencing of the other leaders of the former KLA is underway.