When the war for the liberation of Kosovo took off, on March 24, 1999, on the first night of NATO bombing of Serbian targets, in Mitrovica, Serbian criminals killed Professor Latif Berisha, on the doorstep of his house.

Latif Berisha was an activist in the Albanian movement in Kosovo and former chairman of the LDK in Mitrovica. He was born on June 18, 1931 in Smrekonica, Vushtrri. He completed his primary education in his hometown, while his secondary education in Vushtrri and Pristina. Initially, in 1949, he worked as a teacher in the primary school in Pantinë, reports KosovaPress.

Here he began writing poetry, some of which he published in the literary magazine "Jeta e Re". In 1951 he worked as an inspector in the Secretariat for Education, Culture and Health, and in those years he had also been a member of the Presidency of the Teachers' Association.

In 1954, Latif Berisha worked as a teacher of Albanian Language and Literature at the Vushtrri Junior High School, and in 1955 he enrolled as a full-time student of Albanology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. During his studies, in 1957, he published the collection of poems "Tufa".

His activity was also distinguished in the formation of the Literary Society "Përpjekja" of Albanian students studying at the University of Belgrade. In June 1959, he graduated in the department of Albanology and then worked as a teacher at the "Silvija Tomazini" Gymnasium in Mitrovica.
In 1963, Latif Berisha continued his postgraduate studies, Department of Literature, at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade and worked on his master's thesis "Skënderbeg in Albanian Written Literature".

In 1965, he was elected assistant in the Department of Albanology at the Faculty of Philosophy of Prishtina, while in 1968 he was elected lecturer in the History of Albanian Literature (Romanticism).

Since 1984, he worked on the project "Skënderbeg in Albanian Literature", which he did not finish. In 1991, like many other teachers, the Serbian regime dismissed him from his job.

During the 90s, Latif Berisha was involved in the movement of intellectuals and the Albanian people for the defense of the national cause. He was a member of the Presidency of the Democratic League of Kosovo and the chairman of the LDK branch in Mitrovica. He was especially involved as a leader in the cultural sector, and was a member of the Kosovo Writers' Association.

Latif Berisha has published the volume of poetry "Tufa" (1957), studies and observations: "Ali Asllani and his poetic creativity" (1963) "Skanderbeg in the poem 'The Last Song of Bala'" (1968) "Skënderbeg in some creations of Albanian literature in Yugoslavia" (1968), work "Summer Flowers" and some of its semantic dimensions (1972), poem "Livestock and Agriculture" (ideo-artistic value) (1972) "Hil Mosi and his poetic creativity" (1972) "Andria Kacic Mioshic and the Albanians" (1974) "A bunch of autographed poems by Zef Serembe" (1974), etc.

In 2004, former president Ibrahim Rugova decorated Latif Berisha with the Gold Medal of Independence, for his contribution to freedom and independence.

/Kosovapress/