Ex-Kosovo president tells international judges he’s innocent

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci has insisted he is an innocent man as he addressed a panel of international judges hearing his trial on 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. At the end of his lawyers’ opening statement to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Tuesday, Thaci told judges that he expects evidence to lead to his acquittal, saying that “victims do not obtain justice when the innocent are pursued.” International prosecutors allege that Thaci and three other former senior leaders of the KLA on trial with him are responsible for murders and the illegal detention and abuse of people they considered traitors or collaborators with Serb forces.