In a long, written interview from detention in The Hague, Kosovo’s former President, Hashim Thaci, who is on trial for war crimes, expressed no regret for insisting in 2015 on the establishment of the court that years later would indict him.

“Like many others, I have challenged myself in the interests of the state… If I’d done the opposite, today I’d be accused by the same people, about why the court was not established by Kosovo’s institutions in cooperation with Westerners. I have no dilemma,” Thaci told Pristina-based Klan Kosova TV.

The interview, published on Thursday, focuses on Thaci’s time in the cells and his reflections on decades of political activity in Kosovo. He said he didn’t feel betrayed by the West or by the US over his trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court.

“No, I feel neither betrayed nor deceived. I feel abused by those who on behalf of something fictious separated me from the family, separated me from work, took away from me the best years of my life,” he said.

“The West and the US did not set out the narrative of the case,” he added. He argued that the establishment of the Specialist Chambers “was not at the will or mood of any individual but a state responsibility or irresponsibility towards ourselves and international partners”.

The Specialist Chambers were set up by Kosovo under pressure from its Western allies, who feared that its justice system was not robust enough to try cases against Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas and protect witnesses from interference.

The court is widely resented by Kosovo Albanians who see it as an insult to the KLA’s war to liberate Kosovo from Serbian rule.

Thaci was one of the main supporters of the court’s establishment, arguing that it would show that the KLA’s war was just.

He has been in detention in The Hague since November 2020, when he stepped down as Kosovo’s President after the charges against him were confirmed.

He and his co-defendants, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi, all former guerrilla leaders-turned-politicians, are accused of bearing individual and command responsibility for crimes mainly committed against prisoners held at KLA detention facilities in Kosovo and in neighbouring Albania, including 102 murders.

They have all pleaded not guilty.

As the trial, which started in April 2023, enters its final stage, Thaci told Klan Kosova that he hopes it will be “just, transparent… and free of any prejudices and potential mistakes.

“Kosovo’s citizens expect and absolutely want the Specialist Chambers to respect Kosovo’s laws and constitution in their decision making,” he said.

“Kosovo citizens, the international public, media, civil society and human rights organisations should be given the opportunity to attend this process in order to trust in the truth, and only truth based on facts, not on misconceptions,” he concluded.

This is the second interview Thaci has given from the detention centre in The Hague. The first one was in September 2023.