In his UN speech, Rama did not mention the conviction of former KLA leaders

The issue of the conviction of former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army was entirely absent from the speech delivered by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama at the United Nations General Assembly.

On September 16, the Special Court of First Instance sentenced the former KLA leaders to a total of 81 years in prison: Hashim Thaçi to 25 years, Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years, Kadri Veseli to 18 years and Rexhep Selimi to 13 years.

However, during his speech at the UN, Rama did not address this development at all. His focus was on artificial intelligence, where he also mentioned “Minister Diella,” but he did not mention the conviction of the former KLA leaders.

Previously, Rama had called the Special Court’s sentencing of Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi a “shame.”

Meanwhile, in 2022, he was the one who spoke at the General Assembly about the trial of former President Hashim Thaçi, as well as Dick Marty’s report, on the basis of which the Special Court was established. Rama had described that report as “terrible.”

He had declared that, based on this report, the Kosovo Special Court was established and arrested then-President Hashim Thaçi without an indictment. Rama added that Thaçi spent a year in pretrial detention before an official indictment was filed. He addressed the audience, inviting them to imagine what would happen if their presidents or prime ministers were held in pretrial detention in a third country for an entire year, without any official indictment, by a body created and sponsored by the community of democratic countries.

He had also stated that he would not give up on the truth and that he would honor those who gave their lives for freedom and independence.

At the gala evening organized by the Council for Albanian-American Relations, Rama spoke about Albanian-American relations and also remembered Kosovo’s former president, Hashim Thaçi.

He expressed regret that Thaçi was not present at the event.

Rama said he felt the pain of the absence of someone who had always been invited under his roof, and that person was Hashim Thaçi.

He stressed that Thaçi was not part of the gathering that day, linking this to what he described as a betrayal of him.

Rama then apologized to everyone who might feel ignored, but added that the best thing that could have happened to him that day was to sit next to the Albanian godfather Sal Rusi. He repeated that he was suffering from the absence of someone who had always been invited under his roof, Hashim Thaçi, and stressed that he was not there because this country had betrayed him, not Biden, since General Clark had also done his best. According to Rama, this country did not do its best for Thaçi, whom he called “the George Washington of Kosovo.”