The (resigned) Kosovar President Hashim Thaci was arrested and transferred to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers detention center in The Hague, Netherlands, to face charges of war crimes.

Earlier Thursday, Thaci resigned from his post upon learning that Kosovo Specialist Chambers, an international court that examines war crimes, had approved his war crimes indictment.

Tachi and three other former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) are accused of overseeing an illegal detention facility where the movement's opponents were held in inhuman conditions and sometimes tortured and killed.

The outgoing Kosovar president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He told a news conference in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, that he felt the need to resign ‘to protect the integrity of the state’.

Tachi arrived at Pristina military airport on Thursday afternoon and took a plane to The Hague, where he was seized there by the Kosovo Tribunal.

Prosecutors blame Thaci for nearly 100 civilian murders during the 1998-1999 war.

On Thursday, the European Union welcomed Thaci's cooperation with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, in which he is expected to appear in the coming days before a pre-trial judge. (QNA)


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