The president of Kosovo abruptly dropped out of a White House peace summit after prosecutors back home accused him of war crimes, including 100 murders

On Wednesday, the country's Specialist Prosecutor's Office said Hashim Thai was "criminally responsible" for close to 100 murders.
The crimes were said to have happened while Thai was a chief in the Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1998-1999 war with Serbia.
Thai had already left for the US by plane on Wednesday, but upon hearing news of the indictment, turned around mid-air for Kosovo.
The Trump administration, which recognizes Kosovo's independence from Serbia, have long been keen to facilitate a reconciliation between the two countries.
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The president of Kosovo was accused of multiple war crimes on Wednesday, causing him to drop out of an upcoming peace summit at the White House, and turn back mid-air while en route to Washington.

On Wednesday, Kosovo's Specialist Prosecutor's Office (SPO) made public a ten-count indictment , dated April 24, that accused Hashim Thai of being "criminally responsible" for close to 100 murders in the 1990s.

The SPO said the crimes took places while Thai was a top official in the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Speculation that Thai, 52, would be named has abounded for years . This is the first time the SPO has indicted a person by name.

The SPO was set up in 2015 in The Hague by Kosovo's parliament to investigate war crimes during the 1998-1999 war of independence with Serbia.

Thai has previously given testimony, according to The New York Times , and denies the allegations.

The indictment also placed responsibility on Thai and former intelligence chief Kadri Veselu for the "enforced disappearance of persons, persecution, and torture" of "Kosovo Albanian, Serb, Roma, and other ethnicities" and "political opponents" while they led the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Thai was scheduled to attend a peace meeting with Serbian counterparts this coming Saturday at the White House but abruptly dropped out following the SPO statement.

After leaving Kosovo for the US by plane on Wednesday, Thai planned to turn around mid-air and return home in light of the news, his office told The Washington Post that day . His office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on his current location.

Avdullah Hoti, the prime minister, was expected to replace him at the summit, but wrote on Facebook on Thursday that had had withdrawn his whole delegation to resolve the SPO issue.

The indictment has been submitted to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), which will decide whether to press ahead with a prosecution.

The SPO said it was compelled to publicly release details of the indictment "because of repeated efforts by Hashim Thai and Kadri Veselu to obstruct and undermine the work of the KSC."

"Mr. Thai and Mr. Veseli are believed to have carried out a secret campaign to overturn the law creating the Court and otherwise obstruct the work of the Court in an attempt to ensure that they do not face justice," the SPO said.

The Serbia-Kosovo war of independence ended after a NATO intervention.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008 but Serbia has never formally recognized it as its own country. However, about 100 countries, including the US, have.

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