Spiropali after The Hague ruling: Albania and Kosovo must unite institutionally to defend historical justice

Elisa Spiropali responded during the plenary session to the ruling issued a day earlier by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague against former KLA leaders.

She linked the issue to the war in Ukraine and the demand for international justice, while raising concerns that the judgment could affect collective memory and the way the Kosovo war is treated historically.

Referring to the convention ratifying the International Claims Commission for Ukraine, as well as the recognition of the Russian Federation’s responsibility for violating international norms during its attack on Ukraine, Spiropali said the mechanism aims to provide at least some form of justice for the extensive damage caused. According to her, this development inevitably brings attention back to yesterday’s ruling by the Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

Without going into detail, she described the ruling as cruel, unjust and a dangerous precedent for the future. Spiropali said the issue is also connected to the case of Ukraine and that the damage caused to the collective memory and historical rights of Albanians must be corrected on appeal.

According to her, it is impossible to discuss Ukraine’s fight for freedom or countries striving to gain independence without returning attention to the events in Kosovo and their historical context. She said the discussion must address proportionality, historical rights and the relationship between victim and aggressor—a relationship that, in her view, The Hague court has reversed.

Spiropali said the Specialist Chambers in The Hague were established on the basis of false reports and news stories. She mentioned 2011 and a well-known book by a prosecutor, after which investigations were requested not only into crimes in Kosovo but also into alleged crimes in Albania. According to her, the entire case was alleged to be a farce, and its main figures no longer hold the positions they once did, while the consequences they left behind culminated in yesterday’s judgment.

She added that investigations by the Parliamentary Assembly itself established that no crimes or organ trafficking had taken place in the Republic of Albania, while crimes against humanity were not proven either. In Spiropali’s assessment, the allegations on which the Specialist Chambers were established have no legal or historical basis and disregard the relationship between a genocidal regime in Kosovo and the people who rose up on their own doorsteps to ensure the survival of a nation under threat.

Citing statistics, Spiropali said that today there are only five convicted individuals in Kosovo and that Albanians have received 150 more years in prison than Serbs. She described the ruling as political but stressed that she did not intend to dismiss anyone’s sensitivities and that every victim has the right to receive answers.

Nevertheless, according to her, an entire army and a criminal regime—in which academics, the military and the police had rallied behind a doctrine aimed at exterminating Albanians—cannot be weighed on the same scale as the people who rose up for freedom, existence and to prevent what is now reflected in the statistics.

Spiropali recalled that 13,000 people were killed in Kosovo, 10,000 of whom were civilians. She spoke of people who were massacred and left without graves, as well as the fact that the perpetrators of these massacres have not been punished. According to her, the KLA was created to fight this ethnic cleansing, while today Serbia’s government includes a minister who proudly says that, had it been up to her, she would have killed even more. She added that the same views continue to be expressed today.

In her remarks, Spiropali called for Albania and Kosovo to unite in a powerful national, institutional and financial effort. She said that the Albanian and Kosovo governments, as well as Parliament, should work together to defend the Albanians in The Hague.

“What is supposed to happen? Is Jakup Krasniqi supposed to die in prison and then be returned to Kosovo?” she asked, adding that people who die in prison after being convicted of war crimes and genocide are received with honors.

Spiropali emphasized that yesterday’s judgment does not establish that crimes against humanity were committed, but she described the narrative presented during its reading as deeply problematic. According to her, this interpretation risks distorting history, and Albanians must therefore adopt a common position against such a narrative.

She said that rhetoric dividing people into heroes and traitors had contributed to the situation, while noting that Albanians fail to speak with one voice when they go abroad. Calling for attention to how the parties speak about one another, Spiropali warned that this precedent could also be exploited in other cases. In conclusion, she called on people to imagine Volodymyr Zelensky in Hashim Thaçi’s position, or even in a more serious situation.