Former U.S. diplomat Christopher Hill has begun his testimony at the Hague court in the ongoing trial against former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), including Hashim Thaçi and others.

Hill testified, among other things, about his first meeting with Thaçi in 1998, describing him as someone who spoke “softly and thoughtfully.”

“I got the impression that he was more suited to an academic environment than a military one,” Hill said about his first encounter with Thaçi.

When asked whether he had the impression that Thaçi was the person in control of the KLA, Hill emphasized that there was no basis for such a conclusion.

“He was among the three people who came and whom I met. But I did not get the impression that he was someone who had control over this large organization or that he was leading it. There was no basis for that,” he testified.