On September 28, the Assembly of Kosovo approved, with 99 votes in favor, no votes against and no abstentions, a statement on the first-instance judgment of the Specialist Chambers against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.
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The Assembly’s decision has sparked debate over how Kosovo’s institutions should respond to a judgment that is not yet final. Discussions have also focused on the message being conveyed about the KLA’s war and on the distinction between the individual responsibility of those convicted at first instance and the responsibility of the organization.
Xhevat Dajaku, the brother of Besim Dajaku, a former bodyguard of President Rugova, described the approval of the statement as an action that, in his view, damages the seriousness of the institutions and interferes with how judicial decisions should be handled.
He argues that the first-instance judgment concerns specific individuals and not the KLA as a whole. According to Dajaku, defending the liberation war requires separating it from any individual action that may have violated the law.
“The Assembly’s decision to approve the statement concerning the first-instance judgment of the Specialist Chambers against the four accused of crimes against their compatriots is a wrong step. Above all, this action undermines institutional seriousness and contradicts the way justice and its mechanisms should function.
The Specialist Chambers delivered the first-instance verdict and made it clear that the KLA was not the subject of the indictment. The KLA was clean, just and necessary, and therefore it should be highly valued. The charge of crimes against humanity was also dismissed, and it was emphasized that these were individual crimes, committed or known about by certain individuals, which in legal language is described as an enterprise.
Therefore, the verdict was issued against individuals who, in certain cases while exercising power, acted irresponsibly in the name of the KLA,” Dajaku declared.
According to him, following the judgment, a narrative has emerged that seeks to equate the responsibility of several individuals with the KLA itself and the war for liberation.
“The campaign being led by a powerful group, and which, unfortunately, is also receiving support from state institutions, is based on false but deliberately constructed narratives. It is claimed that if the four accused in The Hague are convicted, then the KLA, our war and the state of Kosovo will also be convicted, and that we will even lose our state.
These are stories that have disoriented, or seek to disorient and frighten, public opinion. Such an approach constitutes pressure on and a threat to witnesses, the families of victims and all those trying to contribute to justice,” he said.
Dajaku emphasizes that the strongest way to defend the KLA is precisely to avoid conflating the liberation war with the possible responsibility of individuals for illegal acts.
“The KLA is part of Kosovo’s history, while its war for liberation is part of the history of our people. No judicial process against individuals can change this historical reality.
However, we must have the courage to say openly: if certain individuals have committed crimes, they must bear responsibility for their actions. But the crimes of individuals cannot be turned into the collective guilt of the KLA, the war or the Albanian people.”
He also criticized the way the public debate over the Specialist Chambers is unfolding, highlighting the influence of the media and public figures.
“The climate has deteriorated enormously. This is being fueled by television studios, print and electronic media, where analysts, criminal lawyers, attorneys, historians, judges, academics, professors and various kinds of slanderers are invited. In a one-sided and deliberate manner, they are giving legitimacy to fabricated narratives, attempting to present them as truths, even though most of them know that they do not stand up.
This is extremely troubling,”
Dajaku assessed.
In conclusion, he said that this way of handling the issue could divert attention from the responsibility of individuals and direct it toward the KLA itself.
“If you carefully follow this approach, the impression is created that every effort is being made to put the KLA in the dock, with the aim of protecting certain individuals.
We must understand that this is the only case in recent wars in which only Albanians are accused of crimes committed against their compatriots,”
Xhevat Dajaku told “Bota sot” in conclusion.
