Kosovo Liberation Army

{{Main|Insurgency in Kosovo (1995–98)}}

A key precursor to the Kosovo Liberation Army was the People's Movement of Kosovo (LPK). This group, who argued Kosovo's freedom could be won only through armed struggle, traces back to 1982, and played a crucial role in the creation of the KLA in 1993.{{Harvnb|Judah|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_F0lqCkITqcC&pg=PA20 20]}}.{{Harvnb|Bideleux|Jeffries|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=G6iBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA423 423]}}. Fund-raising began in the 1980s in Switzerland by Albanian exiles of the violence of 1981 and subsequent émigrés.{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA88 88], [https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA7 7]}}. Slobodan Milošević revoked Kosovan autonomy in 1989, returning the region to its 1945 status, ejecting ethnic Albanians from the Kosovan bureaucracy and violently putting down protests.{{Harvnb|Kola|2003|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nAANq88bBH8C&pg=PA180 180–3]}}{{Harvnb|Vickers|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_F0lqCkITqcC&pg=PA32 32]}}. In response, Kosovar Albanians established the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). Headed by Ibrahim Rugova, its goal was independence from Serbia, but via peaceful means. To this end, the LDK set up and developed a "parallel state" with a particular focus on education and healthcare.

Albanian nationalism was a central tenet of the KLA and many in its ranks supported the creation of a Greater Albania, which would encompass all Albanians in the Balkans,{{#tag:ref|See{{cite book|title=State-building in Kosovo. A plural policing perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YS15BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|publisher=Maklu|date=5 February 2015|page=53|isbn = 9789046607497}}{{cite book|title=Liberating Kosovo: Coercive Diplomacy and U. S. Intervention |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5sa90AEvi0C&pg=PA69|publisher=Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs|date=2012|page=69|isbn = 9780262305129}}{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Genocide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgGA91skoP4C&pg=PA249|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2008|page=249|isbn = 9780313346415}}{{cite magazine|title=Albanian Insurgents Keep NATO Forces Busy |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,101938,00.html|magazine=Time|date=6 March 2001}}{{cite encyclopedia|title=Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kosovo-Liberation-Army|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=14 September 2014}}|group=lower-alpha}} stressing Albanian culture, ethnicity and nation.{{sfn|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|pp=165–166}} It was considered a terrorist group until the breakup of Yugoslavia.{{Cite journal|last=Ozerdem|first=Alpaslan|date=2003|title=From a 'terrorist' group to a 'civil defence' corps: The 'transformation' of the Kosovo Liberation Army|url=https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/publications/from-a-terrorist-group-to-a-civil-defence-corps-the-transformatio|journal=International Peacekeeping|language=English|volume=10|issue=3|pages=79–101|doi=10.1080/13533310308559337|s2cid=144017700}} The KLA itself disavowed the creation of a 'Greater Albania'.{{sfn|Perritt|2010|p=50}} The KLA made their name known publicly for the first time in 1995,{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA82 82]}}. and a first public appearance followed in 1997, at which time its membership was still only around 200. Critical of the progress made by Rugova, the KLA received boosts from the 1995 Dayton Accords— these granted Kosovo nothing, and so generated a more widespread rejection of the LDK's peaceful methods — and from looted weaponry that spilled into Kosovo after the Albanian rebellion of 1997.{{Harvnb|Pettifer|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_F0lqCkITqcC&pg=PA26 26]}}. During 1997–98, the Kosovo Liberation Army moved ahead of Rugova's LDK, a fact starkly illustrated by the KLA's Hashim Thaçi leading the Kosovar Albanians at the Rambouillet negotiations of spring 1999, with Rugova as his deputy.{{Harvnb|Judah|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_F0lqCkITqcC&pg=PA24 24]}}.

In February 1996, the KLA undertook a series of attacks against police stations and Yugoslav government officers, saying that they had killed Albanian civilians as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign."Unknown Albanian 'liberation army' claims attacks", Agence France Presse, 17 February 1996 Later that year, the British weekly The European carried an article by a French expert stating that "German civil and military intelligence services have been involved in training and equipping the rebels with the aim of cementing German influence in the Balkan area. (...) The birth of the KLA in 1996 coincided with the appointment of Hansjoerg Geiger as the new head of the BND (German secret Service). (...) The BND men were in charge of selecting recruits for the KLA command structure from the 500,000 Kosovars in Albania."Fallgot, Roger (1998): "How Germany Backed KLA", in The European, 21–27 September. pp. 21–27. Matthias Küntzel tried to prove later on that German secret diplomacy had been instrumental in helping the KLA since its creation.Küntzel, Matthias (2002): Der Weg in den Krieg. Deutschland, die Nato und das Kosovo (The Road to War. Germany, Nato and Kosovo). Elefanten Press. Berlin, Germany. pp. 59–64 {{ISBN|3885207710}}.

Serbian authorities denounced the KLA as a terrorist organisation and increased the number of security forces in the region. This had the effect of boosting the credibility of the embryonic KLA among the Kosovar Albanian population. Not long before NATO's military action commenced, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported that "Kosovo Liberation Army ... attacks aimed at trying to 'cleanse' Kosovo of its ethnic Serb population."{{Harvnb|Hammond|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=skdoYDs1e8AC&pg=PA178 178]}}.

One of the goals mentioned by the KLA commanders was the formation of Greater Albania, irredentist concept of lands that are considered to form the national homeland by many Albanians, encompassing Kosovo, Albania, and the ethnic Albanian minority of neighbouring Macedonia and Montenegro.

{{main|Kosovo War}}

Between 5 and 7 March 1998, the Yugoslav Army launched an operation on Prekaz. The operation followed an earlier firefight (28 February) in which four policemen were killed and several more were wounded; Adem Jashari, a KLA leader, escaped. In Prekaz, 28 militants were killed, along with 30 civilians, most belonging to Jashari's family. Amnesty International claimed that it was a military operation focused primarily on the elimination of Jashari and his family.{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/156000/eur700331998fr.pdf|title=RÉPUBLIQUE FÉDÉRATIVE DE YOUGOSLAVIE: Les droits humains bafoués dans la province du Kosovo|date=June 1998|website=amnesty.org|publisher=Amnesty International|access-date=3 September 2019|quote=L'opération semble plutôt avoir été menée comme une opération militaire, et les policiers qui y participaient avaient apparemment reçu l'ordre d'éliminer les suspects et leurs familles. (The operation appears to have been carried out as a military operation, and the police officers who participated were apparently ordered to eliminate the suspects and their families.)|archive-date=22 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822060040/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/156000/eur700331998fr.pdf|url-status=dead}}

On 23 April 1998, the Yugoslav Army (VJ) ambushed the KLA near the Albanian-Yugoslav border. The KLA had tried to smuggle arms and supplies into Kosovo. The Yugoslav Army, although greatly outnumbered, had no casualties, while 19 militants were killed.

According to Roland Keith, a field office director of the OSCE's Kosovo Verification Mission:"Failure of Diplomacy, Returning OSCE Human Rights Monitor Offers A View From the Ground in Kosovo", The Democrat, May 1999, Roland Keith

Upon my arrival the war increasingly evolved into a mid intensity conflict as ambushes, the encroachment of critical lines of communication and the [KLA] kidnapping of security forces resulted in a significant increase in government casualties which in turn led to major Yugoslavian reprisal security operations... By the beginning of March these terror and counter-terror operations led to the inhabitants of numerous villages fleeing, or being dispersed to either other villages, cities or the hills to seek refuge... The situation was clearly that KLA provocations, as personally witnessed in ambushes of security patrols which inflicted fatal and other casualties, were clear violations of the previous October's agreement [and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1199].

At one point during the Kosovo War, the KLA changed their tactics from hit and run operations to conventional warfare. In July 1998, the KLA captured the cities of Rahovec and Malisheva and expanded their occupation of territory to 40% of Kosovo. However, without enough manpower and heavy weaponry to defend their gains, both cities quickly fell to Yugoslav forces.{{sfn|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|p=170}} Their occupation of Rahovec was marred by acts of atrocities committed against Serbian civilians.{{sfn|Krieger|2001|p=109}} On 24 August 1998, the KLA reverted to guerrilla warfare and employed new tactics including the appointment of new commanders, central authorities, expanded training camps and military prisons.{{sfn|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|p=170}}

Some sources say that the KLA never won a battle, while others say it won relatively few battles.{{cite book|author=Tim Judah|title=Kosovo: The Politics of Delusion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_F0lqCkITqcC&pg=PA20|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7146-5157-6|page=20|quote=}}{{cite book|author=Henry H. Perritt|title=Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency|year=2010|publisher=University of Illinois Press|page=2}}

The KLA received large funds from the Albanian diaspora in Europe and the United States, but also from Albanian businessmen in Kosovo, notably Ismet Asllani, who dedicated his entire wealth and logistics network to supporting the war effort across regions such as Drenica, Dukagjin, and Llap.{{Cite web |title=Ismet Hazir Asllani (18.8.1955 – 24.3.1999) |url=https://www.radiokosovaelire.com/ismet-hazir-asllani-18-8-1955-24-3-1999/ |website=Radio Kosova e Lirë |date=24 March 2020 |access-date=25 March 2025 |language=sq}}{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA90 95]}}. It is estimated that those funds amounted from $75 million to $100 million and mainly came from the Albanian diaspora in Switzerland, United States and Germany. The KLA received the majority of its funds through the Homeland Calls Fund, but significant funds were also transferred directly to the war zones. Apart from the financial contributions, the KLA also received contributions in kind, especially from the United States and Switzerland. These included weapons, but also military fatigues, boots and other supporting equipment.{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA92 92]}}.

According to the Stockholm International peace research institute: In 1999, the KLA's source of arms were Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and United States with non-state armament through the Albanian diaspora, whereas the Armed Forces of Serbia and Montenegro were funded by Israel.{{cite web |last1=Bromley |first1=Mark |title=United Nations Arms Embargoes Their Impact on Arms Flows and Target Behaviour: Case study: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 1998–2001 |url=https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/files/misc/UNAE/SIPRI07UNAEFRY.pdf |website=sipri.org |page=8 |date=2007}} The weaponry received through Albania were often cheap and faulty often so bad that KLA smugglers could buy a Kalashnikov for as little as $5.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVf1na3FN_UC&dq=jashar+salihu&pg=PA129 | title=Kosovo: War and Revenge | isbn=0-300-09725-5 | last1=Judah | first1=Tim | date=January 2002 | publisher=Yale University Press }}

The KLA received its funding in multiple decentralized ways. Apart from the Homeland Calls Fund, which mostly went to KLA operations in the Drenica region, the KLA also received donations through personal contacts of commanders with Albanians in the diaspora. Members of the diaspora usually stressed the difficulties through which KLA's soldiers were going through to fight an uneven battle. They often used stories of KLA members or civilian survivors of massacres to convince others to donate. After collection, the money was then transferred to its destination in different ways. The secrecy of the Swiss banking system allowed some of the funding to be transferred directly to the locations where military equipment would be purchased. From the United States, most of the money was legally carried by individuals in suitcases, who reported to the FBI and other federal authorities that they were sending money to the KLA. The KLA also received some funding from the Three-Percent Fund, which was set up by the institutions of Republic of Kosova led by Bujar Bukoshi and was also collected from the Albanian diaspora.{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA94 99]}}.

File:Uniform and Badge of Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) - Military Museum - Belgrade - Serbia (15616876567).jpg]]

According to some sources, the KLA may have received funds from individuals involved in drug trade.{{cite book|last=Sörensen|first=Jens Stilhoff|year=2009|title=State Collapse and Reconstruction in the Periphery: Political Economy, Ethnicity and Development in Yugoslavia, Serbia and Kosovo|publisher=Berghahn Books|location=New York City|isbn=978-1-84545-560-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZXaFrO1AlEC|page=203}}{{cite book|last=Jonsson|first=Michael|editor1-last=Cornell|editor1-first=Svante|editor2-last=Jonsson|editor2-first=Michael|year=2014|title=Conflict, Crime, and the State in Postcommunist Eurasia|chapter=The Kosovo Conflict: From Humanitarian Intervention to State Capture|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|isbn=978-0-81224-565-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYpwAgAAQBAJ|page=184}} However insufficient evidence exists that the KLA itself was involved in such activities. For example, Swiss citizens believe that elements of the Albanian community in Switzerland control narcotics trade in Switzerland. Some of the money earned through these illegal activities may have gone to the KLA through contributions to the Homeland Calls Fund or through the usual funding channels in which individuals and businessmen engaged in legitimate economic activities donated. This however is insufficient evidence to claim that the KLA itself got involved in narcotics trade or other criminal activities.{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA93 93]}}.

In a hearing before the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, Ralf Mutschke from the Interpol General Secretariat claimed that half of the funding that had reached the KLA, which he estimated to have been 900 million DM in total, may have come from drug trafficking.{{Harvnb|McCollum|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-lFsChydhccC&pg=PA43 43]}}. Mother Jones obtained a congressional briefing paper for the U.S. Congress, which stated: "We would be remiss to dismiss allegations that between 30 and 50 percent of the KLA's money comes from drugs."{{Harvnb|Klebnikov|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mOcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}}. Furthermore, journalist Peter Klebnikov added that after the NATO bombing, KLA-linked heroin traffickers began using Kosovo again as a major supply route. Citing German Federal Police, he said that in 2000, an estimated 80% of Europe's heroin supply was controlled by Kosovar Albanians.{{Harvnb|Klebnikov|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mOcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA64 64]}}. According to scholars Gary Dempsey and Roger Fontaine, by 1999, Western intelligence agencies estimated that over $250m of narcotics money had found its way into KLA coffers.{{Harvnb|Dempsey|Fontaine|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0V2QAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA138 138]}}. Scholar Henry Perritt, who studied the KLA, argues that "[a]ll available evidence refutes the proposition aggressively advanced by the Milosevic regime that the KLA was mainly financed by drug and prostitution money."

File:Hamëz Jashari monument in Skënderaj - Srbica.jpg]]

The original core of KLA in the early 1990s was a closely knitted group of commanders consisting of commissioned and non commissioned officers belonging to reserve, regular and territorial defense units of the Yugoslav army (JNA).{{sfn|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|pp=166–167}} In 1996, the KLA consisted of only a few hundred fighters.{{sfn|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|pp=166–167}} Within the context of the armed struggle, in 1996-1997 a report by the CIA noted that the KLA could mobilize tens of thousands of supporters in Kosovo within a two to three year time frame.{{sfn|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|pp=166–167}} By the end of 1998, the KLA had 17,000 men.{{sfn|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|pp=166–167}} While religion was not an explicit ideology of the KLA, it was practically fully made up of muslim-Albanians.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

Albanian recruits from neighbouring Macedonia joined the KLA and their numbers ranged from several dozen into the thousands. Following the war some Albanians from Macedonia have felt that their military participation and assistance to fellow Kosovan Albanians during the conflict has not been properly recognised in Kosovo.{{cite journal|last=Ragaru|first=Nadege|title=The Political Uses and Social Lives of "National Heroes": Controversies over Skanderbeg's Statue in Skopje|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00682663/document|journal=Südosteuropa|volume=56|issue=4|year=2008|pages=551|access-date=1 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222210307/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00682663/document|archive-date=22 February 2019|url-status=dead}} "Some Macedonian Albanians, for instance, felt that their contribution to the military effort in Kosovo, in 1997-1999 – where several dozens, possibly thousands, fought side by side with their fellow brothers – had not been fully acknowledged."

Former KLA spokesman Jakup Krasniqi said that volunteers came from "Sweden, Belgium, the UK, Germany and the U.S.".{{Cite web|last=Kelmendi|first=Adriatik|date=11 November 2001|title=Kosovars Refute Islamic Terror Claims|url=https://iwpr.net/global-voices/kosovars-refute-islamic-terror-claims|publisher=Institute for War & Peace Reporting|quote=the KLA included in its ranks volunteers from Sweden, Belgium, the UK, Germany and the US.|access-date=29 February 2016}} The KLA included many foreign volunteers from West Europe, mostly from Germany and Switzerland, and also ethnic Albanians from the U.S.{{cite web |url=http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/archive/data/199904/90420-001-trae-tir.htm |date=20 April 1999 |title=IN THE HOUSE OF KLA RECRUITS |publisher=Aimpress.ch |quote=Until now, the number of people coming from the West, mostly from Germany and Switzerland, has reached 8 thousand [...] from the USA have arrived at the airport of Tirana about 400 |access-date=29 August 2008 |archive-date=9 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909110633/http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/archive/data/199904/90420-001-trae-tir.htm |url-status=dead }}{{unreliable source?|date=April 2015}}

According to the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by September 1998 there were foreign mercenaries from Albania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslims) and Chechnya in the KLA ranks.{{sfn|Bartrop|2016|page=120}}{{cite web |last1=Craig |first1=Larry E. |title=U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee |url=https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/fr033199.htm |website=Federation of American Scientists |access-date=1 October 2023 |date=31 March 1999 |quote=Serbian officials say Mujahideen have formed groups that remained behind in Bosnia. Groups from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Chechnya are also involved in Albanian guerrilla operations.}} Citing a 2003 report by the Serbian government, academics Lyubov Mincheva and Ted Gurr claim that the Abu Bekir Sidik mujahideen unit of 115 members operated in Drenica in May–June 1998, and dozen of its members were Saudis and Egyptians, reportedly funded by Islamist organizations. They further claim that the group was later disbanded, and no permanent Jihadist presence was established.The failure of Islamists groups to gain a foothold with the ranks of the separatist movement is related to the secular foundation of Albanian nationalism and the heavily secular attitudes of Kosovo Albanians which did not leave room for the development of Islamist ideologies.{{cite book|author1=Lyubov Grigorova Mincheva|author2=Ted Robert Gurr|title=Crime-Terror Alliances and the State: Ethnonationalist and Islamist Challenges to Regional Security|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9qW8LPiY38C&pg=PA34|date=3 January 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-13210-1|pages=34–}}

During the Kosovo conflict Milošević and his supporters portrayed the KLA as a terrorist organisation of militant Islam.{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&q=Islamic+influences&pg=PA90 144]}}. The CIA advised the KLA to avoid involvement with Muslim extremists.{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&q=catholic+rather+than+Muslim&pg=PA90 3]}}. The KLA rejected offers of assistance from Muslim fundamentalists.{{Harvnb|Perritt|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C&pg=PA2 2]}}. There was an understanding within the ranks of the KLA that foreign assistance from Muslim fundamentalists would limit support toward the cause of Kosovo Albanians in the West.

File:UÇK monument in Đakovica.jpg]]

After the war, the KLA was transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps, which worked alongside NATO forces patrolling the province.{{Cite web |date=2008-05-09 |title=Terrorist Groups and Political Legitimacy - Council on Foreign Relations |url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/10159/ |access-date=2024-03-13 |archive-date=9 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509031137/http://www.cfr.org/publication/10159/ |url-status=dead }} In 2000 there was unrest in Mitrovica, with a Yugoslav police officer and physician killed, and three officers and a physician wounded, in February. In March, the FRY complained about the escalation of violence in the region, claiming this showed that the KLA was still active. Between April and September the FRY issued several documents to the UN Security Council about violence against Serbs and other non-Albanians.{{cite book|author=United Nations|title=Yearbook of the United Nations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9yZvxlpU0NoC&pg=PA360|date=November 2002|publisher=United Nations Publications|isbn=978-92-1-100857-9|page=360}}

Some people from non-Albanian communities such as the Serbs and Romani fled Kosovo, some fearing revenge attacks by armed people and returning refugees and others were pressured by the KLA and armed gangs to leave.{{cite journal|last1=Herring|first1=Eric|date=2000|title=From Rambouillet to the Kosovo accords: NATO'S war against Serbia and its aftermath|journal=The International Journal of Human Rights|pages=232–234}} The Yugoslav Red Cross had estimated a total of 30,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Kosovo, most of whom were Serb. The UNHCR estimated the figure at 55,000 refugees who had fled to Montenegro and Central Serbia, most of whom were Kosovo Serbs: "Over 90 mixed villages in Kosovo have now been emptied of Serb inhabitants and other Serbs continue leaving, either to be displaced in other parts of Kosovo or fleeing into central Serbia."{{cite book|author1=Allan,Stuart|author2=Zelizer,Barbie|title=Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime|date=1 June 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134298655|page=178}}{{cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2000/03/23/internacional/953766021_850215.html|title=¿Qué fue del Ejército de Liberación de Kosovo?|work=El País|date=22 March 2000|access-date=2021-06-16}}

In post war Kosovo, KLA fighters have been venerated by Kosovar Albanian society with the publishing of literature such as biographies, the erection of monuments and commemorative events.{{cite book|last=Ströhle|first=Isabel|chapter=Reinventing Kosovo: Newborn and the Young Europeans|editor1-last=Šuber|editor1-first=Daniel|editor2-last=Karamanic|editor2-first=Slobodan|title=Retracing images: Visual culture after Yugoslavia|year=2012|location=Leiden |publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004210301|page=244}} The exploits of Adem Jashari have been celebrated and turned into legend by former KLA members and by Kosovar Albanian society. Several songs, literature works, monuments, memorials have been dedicated to him, and some streets and buildings bear his name across Kosovo.{{harvnb|Di Lellio|Schwanders-Sievers|2006a|pp=516–519, 527}}.{{harvnb|Di Lellio|Schwanders-Sievers|2006b|pp=27–45}}.

After the end of the Kosovo War in 1999 with the signing of the Kumanovo agreement,{{cite web |last=NATO |date=1999-06-09 |title=Military Technical Agreement between the International Security Force ("KFOR") and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia |url=http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/a990609a.htm |access-date=2008-08-15}} a 5-kilometre-wide Ground Safety Zone (GSZ) was created. It served as a buffer zone between the Yugoslav Army and the Kosovo Force (KFOR).{{Cite web |date=2001-06-01 |title=Ground Safety Zone (GSZ): Time out for rebel strong hold - Serbia {{!}} ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/serbia/ground-safety-zone-gsz-time-out-rebel-strong-hold |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=reliefweb.int |language=en}}{{Cite web |last= |date=2016-08-23 |title=Supervision of Kosovo's borders and military-technical agreement |url=https://kryeministri.rks-gov.net/en/blog/supervision-of-kosovos-borders-and-military-technical-agreement/ |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=Zyra e Kryeministrit |language=en-US}} In June 1999, a new Albanian militant insurgent group was formed under the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB), which started training in the GSZ.{{cite book |author1=Yonah Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_94vCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 |title=NATO: From Regional to Global Security Provider |author2=Richard Prosen |date=15 August 2015 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-1-4985-0369-3 |pages=93–}}{{cite journal |last1=Corson |first1=Mark W. |last2=Turregano |first2=Clemson G. |date=2002 |title=Spaces of unintended consequences: The Ground Safety Zone in Kosovo |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:GEJO.0000007205.16802.d7 |journal=Springer |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=273–282|doi=10.1023/B:GEJO.0000007205.16802.d7 |bibcode=2002GeoJo..57..273C }} The group began attacking Serbian civilians and police, which escalated into an insurgency.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

With the signing of the Končulj Agreement in May 2001, the former KLA and UÇPMB fighters next moved to western Macedonia where the National Liberation Army (NLA) was established, which fought against the Macedonian government in 2001.{{cite book |author1=Rafael Reuveny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkeKIYW0sXkC&pg=PA185 |title=Coping with Terrorism: Origins, Escalation, Counterstrategies, and Responses |author2=William R. Thompson |date=5 November 2010 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-1-4384-3313-4 |pages=185–}} Ali Ahmeti organized the NLA from former KLA and UÇPMB fighters from Kosovo, Albanian insurgents from the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac in Serbia, young Albanian radicals, nationalists from Macedonia, and foreign mercenaries.Kolstø 2009, p. 173{{Cite news |last=Marusic |first=Sinisa |date=2020-09-02 |title=North Macedonia Albanian Leader Testifies to Kosovo War Prosecutors |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2020/09/02/north-macedonia-albanian-leader-testifies-to-kosovo-war-prosecutors/ |work=Balkan Insight}} The acronym was the same as the KLA's in Albanian.

A number of KLA figures now play a major role in Kosovar politics.

• Hashim Thaçi, the political head of the KLA, is leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and served a term as prime minister from January 2008. In 2011, he was identified in leaked Western military intelligence reports as a "big fish" in Kosovan organized crime.{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Paul |date=2011-01-24 |title=Report identifies Hashim Thaci as 'big fish' in organised crime |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/24/hashim-thaci-kosovo-organised-crime |work=The Guardian |access-date=2020-06-25 }} He was President of Kosovo since 7 April 2016 until his resignation on 5 November 2020.{{Cite web |title=Kosovo's Hashim Thaci: From guerrilla leader to president |last=Delauney |first=Guy |work=BBC News |date=2016-04-08 |access-date=2020-06-25 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35984823 }}{{Cite web|date=2020-11-05|title=Kosovo President Thaci Resigns to Face War Crimes Charges|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2020/11/05/kosovo-president-thaci-resigns-to-face-war-crimes-charges/|access-date=2020-12-18|website=Balkan Insight|language=en-US}} On 24 June 2020 the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office filed a ten-count Indictment, charging Hashim Thaçi and others for crimes against humanity and war crimes.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53169808|title=Kosovo President Thaci faces war crimes indictment |work=BBC News |date=2020-06-24}}
• Agim Çeku, the KLA's military chief, became Prime Minister of Kosovo after the war. The move caused some controversy in Serbia, as Belgrade regarded him as a war criminal, though he was never indicted by the Hague tribunal.{{cite web |last=Benner |first=Jeffrey |url=https://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/kosovo/ceku.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207012959/https://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/kosovo/ceku.html |date=21 May 1999 |archive-date=7 February 2006 |title=War Criminal, Ally, or Both? |url-status=dead |access-date=1 June 2016 |website=motherjones.com}}
• Ramush Haradinaj, a KLA commander, is the founder and currently the leader of Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and served briefly as Prime Minister of Kosovo before he turned himself into the ICTY at The Hague to stand trial on war crimes charges.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4337085.stm | work=BBC News | title=Kosovo ex-PM war charges revealed | date=10 March 2005 | access-date=4 April 2010}} He was later acquitted. From 2017 to 2020 he was again Prime Minister of Kosovo.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}
• Fatmir Limaj, a senior commander of the KLA, is now the leader of the Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA). He was also tried at The Hague, and was acquitted of all charges in November 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/legal-procedures/fatmir_limaj_145.html |title=Fatmir Limaj |access-date=2013-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140201/http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/legal-procedures/fatmir_limaj_145.html |archive-date=12 October 2007 |website=trial-ch.org}}

Hajredin Bala, an ex-KLA prison guard, was sentenced on 30 November 2005 to 13 years' imprisonment for the mistreatment of three prisoners at the Llapushnik prison camp, his personal role in the "maintenance and enforcement of the inhumane conditions" of the camp, aiding the torture of one prisoner, and of participating in the murder of nine prisoners from the camp who were marched to the Berisha Mountains on 25 or 26 July 1998 and killed. Bala appealed the sentence and the appeal is still pending.{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2006/p1070-e.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519120258/http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2006/p1070-e.htm |archive-date=19 May 2006 |title=HARADIN BALA GRANTED TEMPORARY PROVISIONAL RELEASE |url-status=dead |access-date=1 June 2016}}. The Hague, 21 April 2006 – Appeals Chamber{{Update inline|date=July 2015}}

File:Kla members.jpg

The United States (and NATO) directly supported the KLA.{{cite book |author=Peter Dale Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=op39ymd2um0C&pg=PA131 |title=The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America |date=4 September 2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-92994-4 |page=131}} The CIA funded, trained and supplied the KLA (as they had earlier the Bosnian Army).{{cite book|author=Richard H. Immerman|title=The Central Intelligence Agency: Security Under Scrutiny|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nj4RLdHCU0C&pg=PA65|year=2006|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33282-1|pages=65–}} As disclosed to The Sunday Times by CIA sources, "American intelligence agents have admitted they helped to train the Kosovo Liberation Army before NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia".{{Cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Tom |last2=Laverty |first2=Aidan |date=12 March 2000 |title=CIA Aided Kosovo Guerrilla Army All Along |url=https://archive.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/kosovo1/ksv17.htm |access-date= |website=The Sunday Times}}{{Cite book |last=Ron |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZiNkMAOp3QC |title=Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-520-93690-4 |language=en}}

James Bissett, Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, wrote in 2001 on the Toronto Star that media reports indicate that "as early as 1998, the Central Intelligence Agency assisted by the British Special Air Service were arming and training Kosovo Liberation Army members in Albania to foment armed rebellion in Kosovo. (...) The hope was that with Kosovo in flames NATO could intervene ...".{{cite news |last=Bissett |first=James |date=31 July 2001 |title=We created a monster |work=Toronto Star |url=http://www.deltax.net/bissett/a-monster.htm |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510052014/http://www.deltax.net/bissett/a-monster.htm |archive-date=10 May 2008}} According to Tim Judah, KLA representatives had already met with American, British, and Swiss intelligence agencies in 1996, and possibly "several years earlier".Judah, Tim (2002): Kosovo: War and Revenge. Yale University Press. New Haven, USA. p. 120 {{ISBN|0300097255}}

American Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, while opposed to American ground troops in Kosovo, advocated for America providing support to the KLA to help them gain their freedom.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hGwXHr0eNEC&pg=PA7742|title=Congressional Record|author=Congress|year=1999|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=9780160730078|page=7743|access-date=3 May 2011}} He was honored by the Albanian American Civic League at a New Jersey located fundraising event on 23 July 2001. President of the League, Joseph J. DioGuardi, praised Rohrabacher for his support to the KLA, saying "He was the first member of Congress to insist that the United States arm the Kosovo Liberation Army, and one of the few members who to this day publicly supports the independence of Kosovo." Rohrabacher gave a speech in support of American equipping the KLA with weaponry, comparing it to French support of America in the Revolutionary War.{{cite news|title=Rohrabacher Shills for the KLA|author=The New American|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JZS/is_20_17/ai_n25037473/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715035934/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JZS/is_20_17/ai_n25037473/|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 July 2012|newspaper=American Opinion Publishing, Inc.|date=24 September 2001|access-date=4 May 2011}}

{{Main|War crimes in the Kosovo War}}

File:Weapons confiscated from the Kosovo Liberation Army (1999).JPEG

There have been reports of war crimes committed by the KLA both during and after the conflict. These have been directed against Serbs, other ethnic minorities (primarily the Roma) and against ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with Serb authorities.Human Rights Watch, [https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/ UNDER ORDERS:War Crimes in Kosovo]. hrw.org (2001) According to a 2001 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW):

The KLA was responsible for serious abuses... including abductions and murders of Serbs and ethnic Albanians considered collaborators with the state.

Elements of the KLA are also responsible for post-conflict attacks on Serbs, Roma, and other non-Albanians, as well as ethnic Albanian political rivals... widespread and systematic burning and looting of homes belonging to Serbs, Roma, and other minorities and the destruction of Orthodox churches and monasteries... combined with harassment and intimidation designed to force people from their homes and communities... elements of the KLA are clearly responsible for many of these crimes.

The KLA engaged in tit-for-tat attacks against Serbs in Kosovo, reprisals against ethnic Albanians who "collaborated" with the Serbian government, and bombed police stations and cafes known to be frequented by Serb officials, killing innocent civilians in the process. Most of its activities were funded by drug running, though its ties to community groups and Albanian exiles gave it local popularity.

The Panda Bar incident, a massacre of Serb teenagers in a café, led to an immediate crackdown on the Albanian-populated southern quarters of Peć during which Serbian police killed two Albanians.[http://www.osce.org/item/17755.html Human Rights in Kosovo: As Seen, As Told, 1999] (OSCE report) Aleksandar Vučić has stated that there is no evidence that the murder was committed by Albanians, as previously believed.{{cite web| url = http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2013&mm=12&dd=30&nav_id=88815| title = State killed journalist, says deputy PM| date = 30 December 2013}} The Serbian Organised Crime Prosecutor's Office launched a new investigation in 2016 and reached the conclusion that the massacre was not perpetrated by Albanians.{{cite news |last1=Rudic |first1=Filip |last2=Haxhiaj |first2=Rexhepe |title=Kosovo's Panda Café Massacre Mystery Unsolved 20 Years On |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2018/12/14/kosovo-s-panda-caf%C3%A9-massacre-mystery-unsolved-20-years-on-12-13-2018/ |date=2018 |quote=The Serbian Organised Crime Prosecutor's Office launched its new investigation into the massacre in 2016. The prosecution said in 2017 that it had questioned 34 witnesses, and was hoping to interview more and gather additional evidence before pressing charges. It did not reply to BIRN's request for a comment by the time of publication. Serbia's former war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said that it was a fact that there were "almost no Albanians" in the Peja/Pec region at the time of the attack. "We came to the conclusion that [Albanians] are not the perpetrators," Vukcevic told BIRN. However, he added that the war crimes prosecution did not investigate the case, since it was outside of its jurisdiction.}} Many years after the incident, the Serbian government has officially acknowledged that it was perpetrated by agents of the Serbian Secret Service.{{cite book |last1=Everts |first1=Daan |title=Peacekeeping in Albania and Kosovo: Conflict Response and International Intervention in the Western Balkans, 1997 - 2002 |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1838604493 |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkrhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT50 |quote=Since then, there has been much speculation that the perpetrators could have been Serbian forces or state security operatives. But if there has been any genuine progress in the case, it has not been made public.}}{{Dubious|talk=Panda Bar Massacre#Conspiracy theories|date=November 2020}}

File:"Missing" monument, Gracanica.jpg dedicated for the Serb victims missing from the Kosovo War]]

The exact number of victims of the KLA is not known. According to a Serbian government report, the KLA had killed and kidnapped 3,276 people of various ethnic descriptions including some Albanians. From 1 January 1998 to 10 June 1999 the KLA killed 988 people and kidnapped 287; in the period from 10 June 1999 to 11 November 2001, when NATO took control in Kosovo, 847 were reported to have been killed and 1,154 kidnapped. This comprised both civilians and security force personnel. Of those killed in the first period, 335 were civilians, 351 soldiers, 230 police and 72 were unidentified. By nationality, 87 of the killed civilians were Serbs, 230 Albanians, and 18 of other nationalities. Following the withdrawal of Serbian and Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo in June 1999, all casualties were civilians, the vast majority being Serbs.[http://www.arhiva.srbija.gov.rs/news/2002-07/08/325076.html Victims of the Albanian terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija (Killed, kidnapped, and missing persons, January 1998 – November 2001)]{{Dead link |date=February 2016}}
[http://www.arhiva.srbija.gov.rs/vesti/2002-05/25/326656.html Žrtve albanskog terorizma na Kosovu i Metohiji (Ubijena, oteta i nestala lica, januar 1998 – novembar 2001)]. arhiva.srbija.gov.rs According to Human Rights Watch, as "many as one thousand Serbs and Roma have been murdered or have gone missing since 12 June 1999... elements of the KLA are clearly responsible for many of these crimes".

A Serbian court sentenced 9 former KLA members for murdering 32 non-Albanian civilians.[http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=124420 Bulgaria: Serbia Jails 9 Ethnic Albanian Guerrillas for Crimes in Kosovo – novinite.com – Sofia News Agency]. Novinite.com (22 January 2011). Retrieved on 14 March 2013. In the same case, another 35 civilians are missing while 153 were tortured and released.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989, entered into force on 2 September 1990 and was valid throughout the conflict. Article 38 of this Convention state the age of 15 as the minimum for recruitment or participation in armed conflict. Article 38 requires state parties to prevent anyone under the age of 15 from taking direct part in hostilities and to refrain from recruiting anyone under the age of 15 years.{{cite web|title = Child Soldiers International - International Standards|url = http://www.child-soldiers.org/international_standards.php|website = www.child-soldiers.org|access-date = 6 November 2015|archive-date = 23 June 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160623024152/http://www.child-soldiers.org/international_standards.php|url-status = usurped}}

The participation of persons under the age of 18 in the KLA was confirmed in October 2000 when details of the registration of 16,024 KLA soldiers by the International Organization for Migration in Kosovo became known. Ten percent of this number were under the age of 18. The majority of them were 16 and 17 years old. Around 2% were below the age of 16. These were mainly girls recruited to cook for the soldiers rather than to actually fight.{{Cite web |title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/cscoal/2001/en/65418 |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=Refworld |language=en}}

Carla Del Ponte, a long-time ICTY chief prosecutor, claimed in her book The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals (2008) that there were instances of organ trafficking in 1999 after the end of the Kosovo War.The Daily Telegraph, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080414033731/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2008%2F04%2F11%2Fwserb111.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox Serb prisoners 'were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war'], 14 April 2008 The allegations have been rejected by Kosovar authorities as fabrications while the ICTY has said "no reliable evidence had been obtained to substantiate the allegations".[https://web.archive.org/web/20080617064645/http://www.un.org/icty/briefing/2008/pb080416.htm International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia – TPIY]. Un.org (5 March 2007). Retrieved on 14 March 2013. In early 2011 the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs viewed a report by Dick Marty on the alleged criminal activities and alleged organ harvesting controversy; however, the Members of Parliament criticised the report, citing lack of evidence, and Marty responded that a witness protection program was needed in Kosovo before he could provide more details on witnesses because their lives were in danger.The Irish Times, [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0311/1224291885150.html Politician angers MEPs over Kosovo organ harvesting claim]

In 2011, France 24 obtained a classified document which dated back to 2003 and revealed that the UN knew about the organ trafficking before it was mentioned by Carla del Ponte in 2008.{{cite web |title= UN knew about Kosovo organ trafficking, report says |url= https://www.france24.com/en/20110216-un-confidential-document-kosovo-organ-trafficking-investigation-unmik-eulex |website= france24 |date= 16 January 2011 |access-date= 16 January 2011}}

In July 2014, American attorney Clint Williamson, the former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, announced that he and his team had found "compelling indications" that approximately 10 prisoners had been killed so their organs could be harvested. "The fact that it occurred on a limited scale does not diminish the savagery of such a crime," Williamson said, but added that the level of evidence was insufficient to file charges against any particular individual.{{cite web|last=Casert|first=Raf|date=29 July 2014|title=Kosovo prosecutor suspects some killed for organs|website=Associated Press|url=https://apnews.com/article/d8d77e5a58884e9490f51754eb07dcdf|accessdate=29 January 2022}}{{cite web|last=Fioretti|first=Julia|date=29 July 2014|title=Inquiry finds 'indications' of organ harvesting in Kosovo conflict|website=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-kosovo-investigation-idUSKBN0FY1FK20140729|accessdate=29 January 2022}}

On 24 June 2020, Hashim Thaçi, then President of Kosovo, Kadri Veseli and eight other former leaders of the KLA, were indicted by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office (SPO) at the International Court of Justice in Hague.Stern, [https://www.stern.de/news/kosovos-praesident-thaci-zu-anhoerung-in-den-haag-9336328.html Kosovos Präsident Thaci zu Anhörung in Den Haag], 13 Jule 2020Der Spiegel, [https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/kosovo-hashim-thaci-wegen-kriegsverbrechen-angeklagt-a-0cfd85f5-adb9-4f28-82dd-cce94c7321f5 Rückschlag für die "Schlange", 25 Juni 2020]{{Cite web|url=https://www.scp-ks.org/en/press-statement|title=Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office: Press statement|date=2020-06-24|publisher=Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office|access-date=2020-03-11}} The indictment charges the suspects with approximately 100 murders of Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Serbs, Kosovo Roma, and political opponents. According to the Specialist Prosecutor it was necessary to make the issue public due to repeated efforts by Thaçi and Veseli to obstruct and undermine the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers.{{Cite web|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2020/06/24/kosovo-specialist-prosecutor-charges-thaci-with-war-crimes/|title=Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor Charges Thaci with War Crimes|date=2020-06-24|publisher=Balkan Insight|access-date=2020-06-24}}

File:Kosovo-metohija-koreni-duse002.jpg]]

{{See|List of massacres in Kosovo}}

• Klečka killings (26–27 August 1998) – 22 burnt bodies were found in a makeshift crematorium; Serbia has attributed the killings to the KLA.{{cite book|author=United Nations. Security Council|title=Documents Officiels|volume=53|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8MRAQAAMAAJ|year=2006|quote=On 26 and 27 August, in Klecka, 22 persons believed to be abductees reportedly were killed and their bodies burned in a makeshift crematorium. The precise number of victims and the circumstances of their death are being investigated.}}
• Lake Radonjić massacre (9 September 1998) – 34 individuals of Serb, Roma and Albanian ethnicity were discovered by a Serbian forensic team near the lake. Serbia has attributed the killing to the KLA and other Kosovan militants.{{cite book|author=Heike Krieger |title=The Kosovo conflict and international law: an analytical documentation 1974–1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OhPTJn8ZWoC&pg=PA38 |access-date=30 April 2011 |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-80071-6 |pages=38–}}{{cite web| url = http://balkanwitness.glypx.com/Racak-FET-summary2.htm| title = Kosovo Forensic Expert Team - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (complete)}}{{cite book|author=Human Rights Watch |title= World Events 1999 |date= 12 October 1998 |publisher= Human Rights Watch |isbn= 9781564321909 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdWZrfsdqAEC&pg=PA311 |access-date=5 February 2013}}{{cite web| url=http://www.icty.org/case/haradinaj/4#ind |title=Fourth Revised Public Indictment Against Ramush Haradinaj et al para: 47–48 |publisher= U.N. |date=16 October 2008 |access-date=5 February 2013}}
• Mališevo mass grave - After being kidnapped and held in detention by the KLA, 12 Serbs and 1 Bulgarian civilian were massacred with their remains discovered in a mass grave in the town of Malisheva.{{cite journal |last1=Đokić |first1=Bojan |title=Zločini OVK - masovna grobnica 'Mališevo' |journal=Bezbednost |date=2015 |volume=57 |issue=3 |page=122-141 |url=https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0409-2953/2015/0409-29531503122D.pdf |access-date=5 March 2023}}{{cite news |title=Mass Grave Found in Kosovo |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-may-15-fg-kosovo15-story.html |access-date=5 March 2023 |newspaper=LA Times |date=2005}}
• Gnjilane killings – The remains of 80 Serbs were discovered after they were killed, allegedly by members of the KLA's Gnjilane Group, who were tried in absentia by a Serbian court and found guilty.{{cite web|url= http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes.php?yyyy=2011&mm=01&dd=21&nav_id=72256|title=Ex-KLAs sent to prison for 101 years|date=21 January 2011 |publisher=The B92|access-date=30 November 2012}} A mass grave was found in Čena(r) Česma near Gjilan.{{cite book|author1=Zoran Andjelković|author2=Center for Peace and Tolerance|title=Days of terror: in the presence of the international forces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZYMAQAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Center for peace and tolerance|page=172|access-date=27 February 2016}}{{cite book|author1=Zoran Andjelković|author2=Center for Peace and Tolerance|title=Days of terror: in the presence of the international forces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZYMAQAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Center for peace and tolerance|quote=in the settlement called "Cena cesma", a mass grave with 15 bodies of Serbian nationality persons, was found|access-date=27 February 2016}}
• Orahovac massacre – More than 100 Serbian and Roma civilians from Rahovec and its surrounding villages - Retimlje, Opterusa, Zočište and Velika Hoca - in western Kosovo were kidnapped and placed in prison camps by KLA fighters; 47 were killed and their grave found in 2005.{{cite news|publisher=Balkan Insight|title=Belgrade Remembers Victims from Orahovac|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/belgrade-remembers-victims-from-orahovac/1460/3|date=19 July 2012|access-date=12 February 2016|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107023735/http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/belgrade-remembers-victims-from-orahovac/1460/3|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=07&dd=18&nav_id=75498 |title=13 years since massacre of Serbs and Roma in Kosovo |publisher=The B92 |access-date=30 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105133121/http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=07&dd=18&nav_id=75498 |archive-date=5 November 2012 }}
• Staro Gracko massacre – 14 Serbian farmers were murdered. Perpetrators were never found.{{cite book|author=United Nations |title=Yearbook of the United Nations 1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=46wG44UdPscC&pg=PA367 |access-date=30 April 2011 |date=22 February 2002 |publisher=United Nations Publications |isbn=978-92-1-100856-2 |pages=367–}}{{cite book|last=Sremac| first=Danielle S.| title=War of Words: Washington Tackles the Yugoslav Conflict| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGeJzd6BLU4C&q=War+of+Words:+Washington+Tackles+the+Yugoslav+Conflict |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1999| isbn=978-0-275-96609-6| page=247}}
• Ugljare mass grave – 15 bodies of Serbs found in a mass grave, reported on 25 August 1999 by KFOR.{{cite book|title=Review of International Affairs|volume=50–51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxqPAAAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Socialist Alliance of the Working People of Yugoslavia|quote=Massacre at the village of Ugljare: On 25 August 1999 KFOR officially reported on this abominable crime. 15 bodies of killed Serbs were discovered in a mass grave, among which were identified the bodies of Dragan Tomic and two members ...}} The KFOR exhumed the mass grave on 27 July.{{cite book|author=Vojin Dimitrijević|title=Human Rights in Yugoslavia, 1999: Legal Provisions and Practice in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Compared to International Human Rights Standards|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i5IkAQAAIAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Belgrade Centre for Human Rights|isbn=978-86-7202-030-4|page=216|quote=This was the grave in the village of Ugljare near Gnjilane where, according to KFOR data, 1 1 bodies were found and four other not far away: "The exhumation of the bodies on 27 July showed that all those killed were Serbs. By not divulging ...}} 14 Serbs had been shot, stabbed or clubbed.{{cite book|author1=Philip Hammond|author2=Edward S. Herman|title=Degraded Capability: The Media and the Kosovo Crisis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BnU1qPRO-34C&pg=PA129|date=20 May 2000|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-1631-4|pages=129–}} {{ill|Ugljare, Gnjilane|lt=Ugljare|sr|Ugljare (Gnjilane)}} was a KLA stronghold.{{cite book|author1=Nataša Kandić|author2=Fond za humanitarno pravo|title=Abductions and disappearances of non-Albanians in Kosovo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oTfZAAAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Humanitarian Law Center|isbn=9788682599265|access-date=27 February 2016}}
• Volujak massacre – According to Serb authorities, 25 male Kosovo Serb civilians were murdered. Serbia attributes the killings to the KLA "Orahovac group".{{cite web| publisher=B92| url= http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes.php?yyyy=2007&mm=01&dd=19&nav_id=39150| title= KLA members suspected of 1998 war crime| date= 19 January 2007| access-date= 22 February 2013}}{{better source needed|date=February 2016}}

In 2003, the daily Serbian newspaper Večernje novosti published wartime photographs of three KLA soldiers with the heads of decapitated Serbs. The newspaper identified two of the three KLA members as Sadik Chuflaj and his son Valon Chuflaj, who according to the newspaper then worked for the Kosovo Protection Corps.{{cite web |title=KLA |url=http://www.kosovo.net/kladecapit.pdf |website=Kosovo.net |access-date=15 September 2019 |archive-date=31 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831144340/http://www.kosovo.net/kladecapit.pdf |url-status=dead }} Bojan Cvetkovic, a volunteer soldier who had been only on duty for weeks was identified as one of the victims while the Serbian Radical Party later confirmed that soldier Aleksandar Njegovic who was a SRP member, was the second victim out of three other soldiers that went missing at the same time.{{cite web |title=Orrori Post-Jugoslavi |url=http://www.cnj.it/documentazione/ORRORI/orrore8.htm |website=Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia}}

{{main|Destruction of Serbian heritage in Kosovo}}

File:Devič Monastery interior.jpg, medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery]]

Cultural historian András Riedlmayer stated that no Serbian Orthodox churches or monasteries were damaged or destroyed by the KLA during the war.{{cite book|last=Herscher|first=Andrew|title=Violence taking place: The architecture of the Kosovo conflict|year=2010|location=Stanford|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804769358|page=14}} Riedlmayer and Andrew Herscher conducted a survey of Kosovo cultural heritage for the ICTY and UNMIK following the war and their results found that most of the damage to the churches occurred during revenge attacks following the conflict and the return of Kosovo Albanian refugees.{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.sense-agency.com/assets/kosovo/sg-6-06-riedlmayer-foreword-interfaith-eng.pdf|title=Introduction in Destruction of Islamic Heritage in the Kosovo War, 1998-1999|author=András Riedlmayer|page=11|access-date=17 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712133659/http://heritage.sense-agency.com/assets/kosovo/sg-6-06-riedlmayer-foreword-interfaith-eng.pdf|archive-date=12 July 2019|url-status=dead}} In 1999 KLA fighters were accused of vandalizing Devič monastery and terrorizing the staff. The KFOR troops said KLA rebels vandalized centuries-old murals and paintings in the chapel and stole two cars and all the monastery's food.{{cite web|date=17 June 1999|title=KLA rebels accused of vandalizing Serb monastery|publisher=CNN|location=New York|url=http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9906/17/kosovo.04/|access-date=15 September 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095609/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9906/17/kosovo.04/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|date=3 February 2019|title=Žak Ogar: Hoću da svedočim o zločinima OVK, ali me ne zovu

|publisher=Večernje Novosti|location=Belgrade|url=http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/dosije/aktuelno.292.html:775163-Zak-Ogar-Hocu-da-svedocim-o-zlocinima-OVK-ali-me-ne-zovu/}}

Karima Bennoune, United Nations special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, referred to the many reports of widespread attacks against churches committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army.{{cite web|date=14 October 2016|title="Stop denying the cultural heritage of others," UN expert says after first fact-finding visit to Serbia and Kosovo*|publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|location=Geneva|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20682&LangID=E}} In 2014, John Clint Williamson announced EU Special Investigative Task Force's investigative findings and he indicated that a certain element of the KLA following the conclusion of the war (June 1999) intentionally targeted minority populations in organized ethnic cleansing campaign with acts of persecution that also included desecration and destruction of churches and other religious sites.{{cite web|date=29 July 2014|title=Statement of Chief Prosecutor|publisher=Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies|url=https://www.ceas-serbia.org/images/2015-i-pre/EU-SITF-Statement_of_the_Chief_Prosecutor_of_the_SITF_29_July_2014.pdf|access-date=16 April 2019|archive-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630151121/https://www.ceas-serbia.org/images/2015-i-pre/EU-SITF-Statement_of_the_Chief_Prosecutor_of_the_SITF_29_July_2014.pdf|url-status=dead}} Fabio Maniscalco, an Italian archaeologist, specialist about the protection of cultural property, described that KLA members seized icons and liturgical ornaments as they ransacked and that they proceeded to destroy Christian Orthodox churches and monasteries with mortar bombs after the arrival of KFOR.{{cite web|url=http://webjournal.unior.it/Dati/18/54/2.%20Kosovo,%20Maniscalco.pdf|title=The Loss of the Kosovo Cultural Heritage|author=Fabio Maniscalco|access-date=18 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318004707/http://webjournal.unior.it/Dati/18/54/2.%20Kosovo,%20Maniscalco.pdf|archive-date=18 March 2020|url-status=dead}}

• Lapušnik prison camp – Haradin Bala, a KLA prison guard, was found guilty by the ICTY of torture and mistreatment of prisoners crimes committed at the camp.{{cite book|author1=Jennifer Trahan |author2=Human Rights Watch (Organization) |title=Genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3hqQJkJSNcC&pg=PA1 |access-date=30 April 2011 |date=9 January 2006 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |isbn=978-1-56432-339-2 |pages=1–}}{{cite book|author=Pramod Mishra|title=Human Rights Reporting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09hNR6cBP1AC&pg=PA85|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-8205-383-0|pages=85–}}
• Jablanica prison camp – 10 individuals were detained and tortured by KLA forces including: one Serb, three Montenegrins, one Bosnian, three Albanians, and two victims of unknown ethnicity.{{cite web| url=http://www.icty.org/case/haradinaj/4#ind |title=Summary Judgment of ICTY in case Prosecutor vs. Ramush Haradinaj et al page 7 |publisher= U.N. |date=29 November 2012 |access-date=7 February 2013}}{{cite news|url= https://www.welt.de/print/welt_kompakt/print_politik/article111691054/UN-Tribunal-spricht-Kosovo-Fuehrer-Haradinaj-frei.html|title=UN-Tribunal spricht Kosovo-Führer Haradinaj frei|newspaper=Die Welt|access-date=30 November 2012}}

Several survivors of KLA run prison camps in Albania have come forward to tell their stories of being kidnapped and transported to these camps where they witnessed the torture and killing of other prisoners.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7990984.stm Horrors of KLA prison camps revealed]. BBC News (10 April 2009). Retrieved on 30 April 2011. In 2009, eyewitness testimonies from former inmates and KLA fighters described the detention of Albanian, Roma and Serb civilians from the area of Prizren in KLA run prison camps in the Albanian town of Kukës. Despite the prison camp initially being set up, with assistance from the Albanian army, to detain unruly KLA fighters, acts of torture and extrajudicial killings were committed by the KLA against Albanian, Roma, and Serb civilians. According to one former KLA fighter:{{cite news |last1=Karaj |first1=Vladimir |last2=Montgomery |first2=Michael |last3=Raxhimi |first3=Altin |title=KLA Ran Torture Camps in Albania |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2009/04/09/kla-ran-torture-camps-in-albania/ |access-date=21 July 2021 |agency=BalkanInsight}}

It didn't seem strange at the time...but now, looking back, I know that some of the things that were done to innocent civilians were wrong. But the people who did those things act as if nothing happened, and continue to hurt their own people, Albanians.

Since the entry of the NATO-led Kosovo Force, rapes of Serb and Romani, as well as Albanian women perceived as collaborators, by ethnic Albanians and sometimes by KLA members have been documented.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/EUR7075582017ENGLISH.PDF |title=Wounds that burn our souls": Compensation for Kosovo's wartime rape survivors, but still no justice |publisher=Amnesty International |pages=6, 13, 15 |date=13 December 2017 |access-date=15 June 2019 |archive-date=1 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801024644/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/EUR7075582017ENGLISH.PDF |url-status=dead }}{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/aug/03/after-two-decades-the-hidden-victims-of-the-kosovo-war-are-finally-recognised |title=After two decades, the hidden victims of the Kosovo war are finally recognised|newspaper= The Guardian |date=3 August 2018 }}{{cite web| url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a87a0.html#P72_10718 |title=Kosovo: Rape as a Weapon of "Ethnic Cleansing"|publisher= Human Rights Watch |date=1 March 2000 }}

File:Monument to Serbs Killed in Kosovo since 1990s - Mitrovica (Serb Side) - Kosovo.jpg]]

The Yugoslav authorities, under Slobodan Milošević, regarded the KLA as terrorist group.{{cite book |author1=Sean K. Anderson |author2=Stephen Sloan |title=Historical Dictionary of Terrorism |date=2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810863118 |page=361}} In February 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton's special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, condemned both the actions of the Serb government and of the KLA, and described the KLA as "without any questions, a terrorist group".[https://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1999/fr033199.htm The Kosovo Liberation Army: Does Clinton Policy Support Group with Terror, Drug Ties? From 'Terrorists' to 'Partners'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816165402/https://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1999/fr033199.htm |date=16 August 2000 }}, presentation of the Republican Policy Committee to the U.S. Senate, 31 March 1999[http://www.cfr.org/publication/10159/#4 Terrorist Groups and Political Legitimacy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220030412/http://www.cfr.org/publication/10159/ |date=20 December 2009 }} Council on Foreign Relations{{cite news |title= The KLA – terrorists or freedom fighters? |author= Nened Sebak |date= 28 June 1998 |work= BBC |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/121818.stm |quote= But only a few months ago Ambassador Gelbard described the KLA as a terrorist organisation. "I know a terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists," he said earlier this year.}} UN resolution 1160 took a similar stance.[https://web.archive.org/web/20011122091748/http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/98sc1160.htm Resolution 1160 (1998)], 31 March 1998, adopted in the 3868th meeting of the Security Council{{Cite book |title= NATO's gamble: combining diplomacy and airpower in the Kosovo crisis, 1998–1999|author= Henriksen, Dag |publisher= Naval Institute Press |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-1-59114-355-0 |pages= 126–129 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XYBURe35uCQC |quote= [February statements] 'We condemn very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UÇK (KLA) is, without any questions, a terrorist group.' [March statements] while it has committed 'terrorist acts,' if had 'not been classified legally by the U.S. Government as a terrorist organization'}}

Allegedly the 1997 U.S. State Department's official list of "Foreign Terrorist Organizations" did not include the KLA{{cite journal|author=Timothy W. Crawford |title=Pivotal Deterrence and the Kosovo War: Why the Holbrooke Agreement Failed|journal=Political Science Quarterly |jstor=798219|volume=116|issue =4| pages =499–523|year=2001|doi=10.2307/798219}} but the U.S. State Department might have listed it as a terrorist organization in 1998 presumably by the fact that it was financing its operations with money from the international heroin trade and loans from Islamic countries.{{cite web|url=http://judiciary.house.gov/Legacy/muts1213.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050226123208/http://judiciary.house.gov/legacy/muts1213.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2005-02-26|title=The Threat Posed by the Convergence of Organized Crime, Drugs Trafficking and Terrorism |author=written Testimony of Ralf Mutschke Assistant Director, Criminal Intelligence Directorate International Criminal Police Organization — Interpol General Secretariat before a hearing of the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime|publisher=United States House Judiciary Committee|date=2000-12-13|access-date=2008-05-31|quote=In 1998, the U.S. State Department listed the KLA as a terrorist organization}} In March 1998, just one month later Gerbald had to modify his statements to say that KLA had not been classified legally by the U.S. government as a terrorist group, and the U.S. government approached the KLA leaders to make them interlocutors with the Serbs.{{cite book|author=Gibbs, David N.|title=First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4E7hUjI-MmsC&pg=PA181|year=2009|publisher=Vanderbilt University Press|isbn=978-0-8265-1645-9|pages=181–|access-date=27 February 2016}} The Wall Street Journal claimed later that the U.S. government had in February 1998 removed the KLA from the list of terrorist organisations,{{cite web |title= Al Qaeda's Balkan Links |work= The Wall Street Journal Europe |date= 1 November 2001 |url=http://www.balkanpeace.org/index.php?index=article&articleid=12224|author= Kurop, Marcia Christoff }} a removal that has never been confirmed. France delisted the KLA in late 1998, after strong U.S. and UK lobbying.Reveron, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OjvdsfiWwJcC&pg=PA82 p. 82 (footnote 24 from page 69)] KLA is still present in the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base list of terrorist groups,{{cite web|url=http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=3517 |title=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base |access-date=2006-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070402053051/http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=3517 |archive-date= 2 April 2007 }} using a web.archive.org copy of 2 April 2007 and is listed as an inactive terrorist organisation by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.{{cite web | title = Terrorist Organization Profile: Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) | publisher = National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism | url = http://www.start.umd.edu/data/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3517 | access-date = 5 February 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090211235357/http://www.start.umd.edu/data/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3517 | archive-date = 11 February 2009 | url-status = dead }}

During the war, the KLA troops collaborated with the NATO troops, and one of its members was called by NATO the embodiment of the Kosovo "freedom fighters". In late 1999 the KLA was disbanded and its members entered the Kosovo Protection Corps.Reveron, p. 68 Most states which faced on their territory international activity by the KLA never officially designated it as a terrorist organization.{{sfn|Perritt|2010|p=125}}

{{main|Kosovo Specialist Chambers}}

In 2005, the KLA commander Haradin Bala was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Serbs and Albanians by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. KLA commanders and later Kosovo politicians, Ramush Haradinaj and Fatmir Limaj were acquitted, but the court noted that there were difficulties because many witnesses were fearful of giving testimonies, while others changed their testimonies and some died in mysterious circumstances. In addition, there were convictions for witness-tampering regarding these two cases.{{cite web |title= Hague Tribunal Leaves Uncertain Legacy as Last Trial Nears End |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2021/06/23/hague-tribunal-leaves-uncertain-legacy-as-last-trial-nears-end/ |website= balkaninsight.com |date= 23 June 2021 |access-date= 23 June 2021}}

In 2010, a report by the Council of Europe accused KLA guerrillas of killing civilian Serbs and ethnic Albanian political opponents.{{cite news |title= War crimes prosecutor indicts Kosovo president Thaci |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kosovo-warcrimes-president-idUSKBN23V22S |website= reuters.com |date= 24 June 2020 |access-date= 24 June 2020 }} Based on the Council of Europe report, the Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) was created in 2011 to investigate the allegations. The SITF chief prosecutor presented his general findings in 2014 resulting in the creation of the specialist chambers in The Hague to adjudicate the cases.{{cite web |title= Kosovo: War Crimes Indictment Advances Justice |url= https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/25/kosovo-war-crimes-indictment-advances-justice |website= hrw.com |date= 25 June 2020 |access-date= 25 June 2020 }}

In April 2014, the Assembly of Kosovo considered and approved the establishment of a special court of Kosovo to try alleged war crimes and other serious abuses committed during and after the 1998–99 Kosovo war.{{Cite web |title= Kosovo: Approve Special Court for Serious Abuses |url= https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/11/kosovo-approve-special-court-serious-abuses |website= hrw.org |date= 11 April 2014 |access-date= 13 March 2016 }} The court will adjudicate cases against individuals based on a 2010 Council of Europe report by the Swiss senator Dick Marty.{{Cite web |title= Kosovo: Approval of Special Court Key Step for Justice |url= https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/24/kosovo-approval-special-court-key-step-justice |website= hrw.org |date= 24 April 2014 |access-date= 27 February 2016 }} The proceedings will be EU-funded and held in The Hague, though it would still be a Kosovo national court. Defendants will likely include members of the Kosovo Liberation Army who are alleged to have committed crimes against ethnic minorities and political opponents, meaning the court is likely to meet with some unpopularity at home, where the KLA are still widely considered heroes.{{Cite web |last=Valenzuela-Bock |first=Catherina |title=Special Court for Crimes Committed During Kosovo War Established in The Hague |url=https://www.asil.org/blogs/special-court-crimes-committed-during-kosovo-war-established-hague-january-15-2016 |work=American Society of International Law |date=2016-01-22 |access-date=2020-06-25 }}

In 2017, ten members of the KLA, including Sylejman Selimi who was ex-head of the Kosovo Security Force and later ambassador to Albania, were convicted for war crimes against civilians.{{cite web |title= Kosovo 'Drenica Group' Guerrillas' Convictions Confirmed |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2017/09/04/kosovo-drenica-group-supreme-court-verdict-09-04-2017/ |website= balkaninsight.com |date= 4 September 2017 |access-date= 4 September 2017}}

On June 24, 2020, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office filed a ten-count Indictment, charging Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli and others for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The prosecutors said that Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli repeatedly tried to obstruct and undermine the work of the KSC (Special Court of Kosovo), "in an attempt to ensure that they do not face justice".{{cite news |title= Kosovo President Thaci faces war crimes indictment |work= BBC News |date= 24 June 2020 |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53169808 |access-date= 24 June 2020 }} In July 2020, Thaçi was questioned by war crimes prosecutors at The Hague.{{cite web |title= Kosovo's Thaci quizzed by war crimes prosecutors |url= https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/kosovos-thaci-quizzed-by-war-crimes-prosecutors-156545 |website= hurriyetdailynews.com |date= 14 July 2020 |access-date= 14 July 2020 }}

In September 2020, Agim Çeku was summoned by the prosecutors as a war crimes suspect.{{cite web |title= Former Kosovo Prime Minister Summoned as War Crimes Suspect |url= https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/09/03/world/europe/ap-eu-kosovo-war-crimes-commander.html |website= The New York Times |access-date= 3 September 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The same month, the former KLA commander Salih Mustafa was arrested and transferred to the detention facilities in The Hague, based on a "warrant, transfer order and confirmed indictment issued by a pre-trial judge".{{cite web |title= Ex-army leader is first suspect arrested by Kosovo war crimes tribunal |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/24/kosovo-war-crimes-tribunal-arrests-former-kla-army-commander-salih-mustafa |website= theguardian.com |date= 24 September 2020 |access-date= 24 September 2020 }} Mustafa was charged with the war crimes of arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder.{{cite web |title= 1st Kosovar Albanian arrested on war crimes charges |url= https://apnews.com/article/pristina-army-trials-kosovo-serbia-4e3d59b8f0d45537910de98116c4bb97 |website= apnews.com |date= 24 September 2020 |access-date= 24 September 2020 }} The same month, Hysni Gucati (Chairman of the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans Association) and Nasim Haradinaj (Deputy Chairman of the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans Association) were also arrested and transferred to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers's Detention Unit. They were charged for obstructing Special Court of Kosovo officials in performing their duties, intimidation during criminal proceedings, retaliation and violating secrecy of proceedings.{{cite web |title= Hysni Gucati & Nasim Haradinaj |url= https://www.scp-ks.org/en/cases/hysni-gucati-nasim-haradinaj/en |website= www.scp-ks.org|date= 24 October 2020 }}

In November 2020, Thaci, a deputy in the Kosovo parliament Rexhep Selimi, the president of Thaci's Kosovo Democratic Party Kadri Veseli and veteran Kosovo politician Jakup Krasniqi were arrested and transferred to the detention center of the Kosovo Tribunal in The Hague on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.{{cite web |title= Kosovo President Thaci arrested, moved to The Hague to face war crimes charges |url= https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/kosovo-president-thaci-arrested-moved-to-the-hague-to-face-war-crimes-charges-159785 |website= hurriyet dailynews |date= 6 November 2020 |access-date= 6 November 2020 }}

In December 2020, the Parliament of Albania decided to create a committee in order to investigate the accusations against KLA of human rights violations in both Kosovo and north Albania where it had bases. Prime Minister Edi Rama accused the opposition chief Lulzim Basha of helping the UN to investigate the KLA and called him a traitor. Basha denied the accusations.{{cite web |title= Albania's Parliament to Probe Allegations of KLA Crimes |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2020/12/03/albanias-parliament-to-probe-allegations-of-kla-crimes/ |website= balkaninsight |date= 3 December 2020 |access-date= 3 December 2020}}

In 2020, Serbian authorities arrested Nezir Mehmetaj at the Merdare. He is accused of participating in war crimes against civilians including murders and burning and looting of private properties in the village of Rudice at Klina during the war. He denied the accusations.{{cite web |title= Kosovo Protesters Urge Serbia to Free War Crimes Defendant |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2022/01/10/kosovo-protesters-urge-serbia-to-free-war-crimes-defendant/ |website= balkaninsight.com |date= 10 January 2022 |access-date= 10 January 2022}}

In February 2021, the president of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Ekaterina Trendafilova, informed the European diplomats that there were increasing efforts from Kosovo to undermine the court's work and warned about the safety of the witnesses. She mentioned that there were attempts to challenge the law and to pardon those convicted of crimes. In addition she said that Kosovo is trying hard to move the court from Hague to Pristina (capital of Kosovo) and such a move would "risk the lives, safety and security of the people who have or will be willing to cooperate with the court".{{cite web |title= Kosovo could try to move war crimes court to Pristina, judge warns |url= https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/15/kosovo-could-try-to-move-war-crimes-court-to-pristina-judge-warns |website= euronews |date= 15 February 2021 |access-date= 23 February 2021}}

In March 2021, Belgian authorities arrested Pjeter Shala, a former KLA commander on war crimes charges.{{cite web |title= Belgium Arrests Kosovo Ex-Guerrilla on War Crime Charges |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2021/03/16/kosovo-war-crime-suspect-arrested-in-belgium/ |website= balkaninsight |date= 16 March 2021 |access-date= 16 March 2021}}

The United States Country Reports on Human Rights Practices of 2021 reported that "leading politicians, civil society leaders and veterans organisations" in Kosovo were trying to undermine the Hague court.{{cite web |title= US Concerned About Continuing Rights Violations in South-East Europe |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2021/03/31/us-concerned-about-continuing-rights-violations-in-south-east-europe/ |website= balkaninsight |date= 31 March 2021 |access-date= 31 March 2021}}

In May 2022, more charges were added for war crimes allegedly committed in 1998 and 1999 by KLA members at the dormitories in Budakove and Semetishte.{{cite web |title= KLA Hague Detainees Face New War Crime Charges |url= https://prishtinainsight.com/kla-hague-detainees-face-new-war-crime-charges/ |website= prishtinainsight |date= 5 May 2022 |access-date= 5 May 2022}} According to the final indictment, most of the crimes committed at detention centres in Kosovo and Albania.{{cite web |title= Kosovo War Crime Court President Suggests KLA Leaders' Trial is Near |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2022/09/21/kosovo-war-crime-court-president-suggests-kla-leaders-trial-is-near/ |website= balkaninsight |date= 21 September 2022 |access-date= 21 September 2022}}

In December 2022 Salih Mustafa, who had been arrested in September 2020, was convicted in The Hague of the war crimes of arbitrary detention, torture, and murder, but not convicted of cruel treatment for legal reasons. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison. The Trial Panel also mentioned that the victims and witnesses had shown tremendous courage cooperating with the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor, because they were subjected to threats and intimidation in Kosovo for their cooperation.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-16 |title=Salih Mustafa found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 26 years of imprisonment |url=https://www.scp-ks.org/en/salih-mustafa-found-guilty-war-crimes-and-sentenced-26-years-imprisonment |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Kosovo Specialist Chambers & Specialist Prosecutor's Office |language=en}}

{{quotation | Below is the decision of the judges for Salih Mustafa in details:{{Cite web |date=2022-12-16 |title=Summary of Trial Judgment in Specialist Prosecutor v. Salih Mustafa (KSC-BC-2020-05) |url=https://www.scp-ks.org/sites/default/files/public/content/documents/20221216_summary-judgment-mustafa-en.pdf |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Kosovo Specialist Chambers & Specialist Prosecutor's Office |language=en}}

Mr Mustafa, given that you have been found guilty of more than one crime, the Panel

has determined an individual sentence for each crime for which a conviction has been

entered, pursuant to Rule 163(4) of the Rules. I will thus first set out these individual

sentences, thereafter I will, pronounce a single sentence for the totality of your

criminal conduct.

The Panel has determined:

1. a term of 10 (ten) years of imprisonment for the war crime of arbitrary detention(Count 1);
2. a term of 22 (twenty-two) years of imprisonment for the war crime of torture (Count 3); and
3. a term of 25 (twenty-five) years of imprisonment for the war crime of murder(Count 4).

The Panel sentences you to a single sentence of twenty-six (26) years of imprisonment,

with credit for the time served.

Kosovo provides help to former KLA members but does not support the victims of war crimes, despite the Chambers requests.{{cite web |title= Kosovo: Guerrillas' Trials in The Hague Overshadow Justice Efforts at Home |url= https://balkaninsight.com/2023/12/22/kosovo-guerrillas-trials-in-the-hague-overshadow-justice-efforts-at-home/ |website= balkaninsight |date= 22 December 2023 |access-date= 22 December 2023}}

• Zahir Pajaziti (1962-1997),{{Cite web |last=Qeriqi |first=Zamir |date=2023-01-31 |title=Zahir Qerim Pajaziti (1.11.1962 – 31.1.1997) |url=https://www.radiokosovaelire.com/zahir-qerim-pajaziti-1-11-1962-31-1-1997/ |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=Radio Kosova e Lirë |language=en-US}} commander, from Podujevë
• Abdullah Tahiri (born 1956), commander,^[http://www.epokaere.com/index.aspx?SID=13&PMID=5&LID=2&ACatID=4&AID=40844&Ctype=1 Abdullah Tahiri, is to save (from prison), that Kosovo will forgive life.]Epoka e Re, Pristina date 20.05.2014 | 09:51 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518090948/http://www.epokaere.com/index.aspx?SID=13&PMID=5&LID=2&ACatID=4&AID=40844&Ctype=1|date=2015-05-18}} from Gjilan
• Shemsi Ahmeti (1969–1999),{{cite web|url= https://www.radiokosovaelire.com/shemsi-arif-ahmeti-8-6-1969-26-4-1999/|title= Shemsi Arif Ahmeti (8.6.1969 – 26.4.1999)|work=Radio Kosova e Lirë|date=26 April 2024|language=sq|access-date=12 August 2024}} commander, from Mitrovica
• Isak Musliu (born 1970),[http://www.icty.org/x/cases/limaj/ind/en/lim-ii030124e.pdf Profile], icty.org; accessed 15 May 2015. soldier, from Shtime

• Albanian Armed Forces
• Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo
• KFOR
• Kosovo Police
• Military of Kosovo
• Operation Horseshoe
• 1999 NATO bombings of Yugoslavia
• Albanian nationalism in Kosovo
• Kosovo Specialist Chambers

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{{Commons category|Kosovo Liberation Army}}

• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991104111257/http://www.janes.com/defence/features/kosovo/kla.html |date=4 November 1999 |title=The KLA: braced to defend and control }} Jane's Information Group
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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20011114203823/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/kla.htm Intelligence Resources page on KLA] Federation of American Scientists
• [http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/a990620a.htm KLA-NATO] Demilitarisation and transformation agreement.
• IISS: [http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-4---1998/volume-4---issue-7/the-kosovo-liberation-army "The Kosovo Liberation Army" – Volume 4, Issue 7 – August 1998 ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905171245/http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-4---1998/volume-4---issue-7/the-kosovo-liberation-army/ |date=5 September 2009 }}
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• Government of Serbia (2003): White Book on KLA ([http://www.media.srbija.gov.rs/medeng/documents/albanian_terrorism_crime1.pdf Part 1], [http://www.media.srbija.gov.rs/medeng/documents/albanian_terrorism_crime2.pdf Part 2])
• {{cite news | author= Michael Montgomery| title= Horrors of KLA prison camps revealed| url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7990984.stm| work= BBC News| date= 10 April 2009| access-date=14 April 2009 }}

{{Albanian separatist organizations}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Kosovo War

Category:National liberation armies

Category:Organizations formerly designated as terrorist

Category:Paramilitary organizations based in Yugoslavia

Category:1990s establishments in Kosovo

Category:1994 establishments in Serbia

Category:1999 disestablishments in Kosovo

Category:Separatism in Serbia

Category:Paramilitary organizations in the Yugoslav Wars