In September 1998, during a visit to Drenica, 13 parliamentarians and political representatives who were part of a delegation linked mainly to the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and Ibrahim Rugova’s political camp were detained. Nearly three decades after the incident, the Specialist Chambers concluded that Hashim Thaçi had personally participated in their arrest, arbitrary detention and questioning in Qirez and Baicë.

The trial panel examined the case as one of the episodes involving crimes against people whom the then leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army perceived as political or military opponents.

The summary of the judgment states that the group of perceived opponents included, among others, Kosovo Albanians with ties to the Democratic League of Kosovo and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo.

According to the court, people regarded as opponents were targeted through arrests and detention without legal process, physical and psychological abuse, threats and other forms of intimidation. However, the court did not necessarily find that each of the 13 delegation members had been subjected to all these forms of abuse.

Events in Qirez and Baicë

On September 21, 1998, the delegation had set out for Qirez in Drenica to visit displaced people who had found shelter there. The delegation was led by Gjergj Dedaj, at the time deputy chairman of the Council of the Republic of Kosovo and one of the political figures close to President Ibrahim Rugova’s camp.

The delegation members were detained in Qirez and held for approximately 48 hours. Some of the facts examined by the court also concerned Baicë, where they continued to be held and questioned.

In the official summary of the judgment, the trial panel stated: “Thaçi also personally participated in crimes, including the arrest, detention and questioning of the 13 parliamentarians in Qirez and Baicë.”

Regarding Rexhep Selimi, the court found that he had participated in the arrest and detention of the 13 parliamentarians in Qirez.

The delegation was perceived as close to Rugova’s camp

At the time of the incident, Ibrahim Rugova and the LDK enjoyed broad support among Kosovo Albanians, while leading the then institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.

At the same time, there were intense clashes between this institutional camp and other structures seeking to assume the political and military leadership of the war.

Gjergj Dedaj had previously stated that the delegation members had been physically and psychologically abused. According to him, they were viewed with suspicion because of their ties to the LDK and their support for Rugova.

Dedaj had publicly claimed that he, too, had been abused. He repeated such allegations in interviews and statements made after the war.

Dedaj changes his testimony in The Hague

During his testimony before the Specialist Chambers in November 2023, Dedaj retracted some of the claims he had previously made.

He stated that he had not been beaten and that some of his earlier claims had been exaggerated. Dedaj explained that those statements had been made while he was in a distressed emotional state and that he had not been well when he made most of his postwar claims.

Dedaj also denied having seen Thaçi in Qirez. He said he may have misidentified him or that his statements may have been influenced by political rivalry. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that he had later met Thaçi in Baicë.

The defense used these changes to challenge the Prosecution’s account and the credibility of the witness’s earlier statements.

The incident and Thaçi’s involvement were not dismissed

Although Dedaj retracted some of his earlier statements, the trial panel rejected neither the incident nor Thaçi’s involvement in it.

After reviewing the testimony, documents and other materials, the court found that Thaçi’s personal participation in the arrest, arbitrary detention and questioning of the 13 parliamentarians had been established.

Consequently, the court’s conclusion was based not only on Gjergj Dedaj’s statements, but on the totality of the evidence presented during the proceedings.

In the judgment, the incident was included within the broader pattern of targeting people perceived as opponents. This category included, in particular, Albanians linked to the LDK, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo (FARK) and the institutions led by Ibrahim Rugova.

Individual, not collective, criminal responsibility

The trial panel emphasized that the proceedings did not address the legitimacy of the KLA’s war or the collective responsibility of its members.

The findings and sentences concern the individual criminal responsibility of the accused for specific acts. In the case of the 13 parliamentarians, the court found that Thaçi had personally participated in their arrest, arbitrary detention and questioning, while Selimi had participated in their arrest and detention.

For this reason, the Qirez and Baicë case remains one of the most significant episodes in the judgment: an Albanian delegation close to Rugova’s political camp was deemed suspicious and deprived of its liberty by people who were supposedly fighting against the same occupier.

Sources: Official summary of the judgment, the Specialist Chambers’ announcement and public reports on Gjergj Dedaj’s testimony.

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