Albulena Haxhiu honors Adem Demaçi: 28 years of imprisonment could not break his spirit for a free Kosovo

On the anniversary of Adem Demaçi’s death, acting President Albulena Haxhiu remembered him as one of the strongest pillars of resistance for Kosovo’s liberation.

Together with acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, she participated in a commemorative ceremony to honor the legacy of a man who for decades remained the embodiment of Albanian political resistance.

Haxhiu underlined that Demaçi’s life path spanned some of the most decisive moments in the country’s history.

In a social media post, she wrote that he was at the forefront of political opposition in an era when the aspiration for freedom was punished with imprisonment, became the voice of Albanians’ rights during their oppression, and remained active in the public sphere even after Kosovo entered a new historical phase.

She pointed out that the same writer who fought phenomena like blood feuds was also the activist who resisted subjugation and, after liberation, strongly insisted that the freedom gained not be stained by acts of revenge.

Speaking about the generation he belonged to, Haxhiu stressed that Baca Adem deeply felt the denial of basic rights for Albanians in the former Yugoslavia. Because he refused to remain silent, he paid a heavy price: he spent 28 years of his life behind bars. Yet, neither imprisonment nor constant persecution could divert him from his convictions and the cause of Kosovo’s freedom.

She further recalled that his name had gained international renown long before Kosovo won independence. Amnesty International defended him as a prisoner of conscience, there were calls in the U.S. Senate for his release, while the European Parliament honored his contribution against an oppressive regime with the Sakharov Prize.

At the end of the post, Haxhiu described Demaçi’s figure as someone who did not soften his words to please the masses. He was sincere, often blunt, and always resolute in defending what he believed. Precisely for this, his legacy remains inseparable from the history of Albanian political thought and resistance in Kosovo. His remembrance today, she concluded, is a tribute of respect to the suffering borne with dignity, to his unwavering resilience, and to an existence dedicated to freedom.