A court proceeding does not determine only the guilt of individuals; the materials it produces – documents, witnesses and findings – can have a much longer life than the ruling itself, becoming sources for historians. This dimension takes on particular importance with the September 16 verdict by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague against four former senior figures of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA): Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.
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The court found all four guilty of war crimes and sentenced them to between 13 and 25 years in prison, while acquitting them of crimes against humanity. This is a first-instance verdict that holds four individuals criminally responsible, not the KLA as an organization.
Nevertheless, the trial produced a rich archive of evidence and testimony. The panel of judges found the defendants guilty of the arbitrary detention of 385 people, cruel treatment of 49 others, the torture of 303 people and the killing of 96 people. During the delivery of the verdict, it was also emphasized that all four had made an essential contribution to a “common criminal purpose” targeting people perceived as opponents of the KLA’s political or military objectives.
It is precisely these findings, together with the material gathered, that bring the verdict into contact with history and collective memory. According to historians and sociologists interviewed by Radio Free Europe, a verdict cannot write the past on its own, but it can serve as one of the sources through which the past is later interpreted – especially by generations who will not have experienced the war directly.
Ibrahim Gashi, a professor of history at the University of Pristina, warns: “If the verdict remains as it is, in the worst-case scenario, it will contribute to the creation of a second narrative about the nature of the KLA.” In his view, the ruling will simply be an additional reference. “I think this will be only one of the references, nothing more. Just one reference. A great many books have been written that contain a consistent narrative corresponding to the facts that occurred on the ground,” Gashi emphasizes.
Florian Bieber, director of the Centre for Southeast European Studies, does not believe that the verdict will overturn existing historical narratives. “I doubt that will happen. The previous judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and other courts have not fundamentally changed historical narratives,” he says. Bieber draws a clear line between the court’s task – determining whether specific individuals bear criminal responsibility for specific crimes – and that of the historian, who seeks a broader framework: the political and military context, developments on the ground and a multitude of sources.
A central issue in this process was the functioning of the KLA and the relationship of the four defendants to its structures. According to Bieber, most researchers have viewed the KLA as a relatively decentralized organization, without a rigid chain of command, and he does not expect this verdict to change that interpretation. Nevertheless, the value of the trial for researchers also lies in the large amount of information brought to light. More than 130 witnesses were heard in court and a voluminous body of material was admitted as evidence.
Bieber observes: “This will certainly be researched. I would emphasize that there is a distinction between what is interesting and relevant to a criminal investigation and historical research. The questions are different, since history rarely concerns itself with determining responsibility. Nevertheless, historians of the conflict and of the KLA will have to engage with this case.”
Gashi, meanwhile, recalls a range of Western authors and former officials – such as Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark, James Pardew and Marc Weller – who have written about the war, diplomacy and international intervention in Kosovo. He says that the historiography of the conflict will not rely solely on court documents; the testimony of participants, international sources, oral history and the experience of the civilian population will continue to form part of the mosaic of sources.
The September 16 verdict is only a first-instance ruling and may be challenged on appeal, a fact that adds another reason why its long-term weight in history remains uncertain.
Beyond the academic debate, the question arises of how collective memory within Kosovo’s society will be affected. Shemsi Krasniqi, a professor of sociology at the University of Pristina, argues that perceptions of the war in Kosovo were shaped by lived experience, not by court files. “Our truth is the truth we experienced with our lives, with our suffering, our pain, our efforts, our engagement, our sweat and blood, with everything. International actors, however, are colder in this respect. They see things through documents and institutional decisions, and they do not have the feeling that we have,” he says.
Consequently, Krasniqi does not expect the verdict to shake the image of the KLA and the war for liberation within Kosovo. “Within Kosovo, I do not believe it will have an impact in this regard, because the people of Kosovo know their own history very well. They are very aware of the values of the KLA, the values of the struggle for freedom and the necessity of the struggle for freedom,” he adds.
Nevertheless, over time, the balance between direct memory and archival memory will shift, especially when the generation that lived through the war gives way to one that will know it only through writings, films and court judgments. Krasniqi considers this a complicated situation and finds it difficult to predict how history will be recounted several decades from now. “It is a complex circumstance that makes the situation more difficult. But trying to predict how history will be explained 25 or 50 years from now is somewhat difficult. We do not know what other events will occur in the meantime, or which narratives will become consolidated and which will dominate, or around which there will be agreement or consensus,” he says.
The Hague verdict does not arrive on uncharted ground. Earlier, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia handed down sentences against former senior Serbian officials for crimes in Kosovo, but those judgments did not put an end to interpretive battles over the wars of the 1990s. Bieber emphasizes: “The experience of international court judgments in shaping historical narratives is not encouraging. Over the past 25 years, judgments have often been accepted only when they fit the national narrative and rejected when they did not.”
He expects this verdict, too, to be interpreted in opposing ways in Kosovo and Serbia. “I would expect Serbian nationalists to feel vindicated in their views, while ignoring the fact that far more Serbian officers were convicted of more serious crimes, not to mention the many others who were never tried at all. In Kosovo, meanwhile, we are already seeing a rejection based on the mistaken argument that the verdict somehow threatens the historical record,” Bieber adds.
Gashi is equally convinced that nationalist circles in Serbia will use the ruling as ammunition for their narrative, which is why he insists that the task of historians has become even more urgent. “We historians have a major duty to use arguments from collective memory and from the testimony of various participants through what is known as oral history. We must also draw on the references of Western authors who had access to information from the ground,” he says.
Despite the challenges, Krasniqi remains optimistic that the direct experience of the war will not fade quickly. He emphasizes that it has already been preserved in many forms of expression. “I am certain that it will last for a long time; decades will certainly pass, and this experience will not be forgotten. And how could it be forgotten when it has been documented, visualized, written down and later given aesthetic form through artistic, literary and cinematic creations, among others? It will not be forgotten,” he concludes.
Thus, the September 16 verdict enters an arena where several narratives about the Kosovo war already exist, and the weight it will carry in the future will depend not only on its fate on appeal, but also on how society, researchers and collective memory absorb it.
