Kosovo’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Glauk Konjufca, shortly before entering the gallery of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers to witness the trial of the four KLA leaders in The Hague, expressed confidence that the final verdict in this prolonged process would result in the release of the former KLA leaders and their return to their families.
Addressing journalists, Foreign Minister Konjufca stated that there was no criminal enterprise within the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Just before the hearing against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi, in which Konjufca himself would participate, he said that the army was just and created to protect its people from Serbian genocide.
“Each of us fulfills our obligations, and I believe the entire state has acted in service of this truth: regarding the KLA war, there was no criminal enterprise in the Kosovo Liberation Army. This is the truth, and it will be confirmed in court. There was no criminal intent at the core of the KLA. The KLA was a just army, created directly by the people of Kosovo, not by anyone from above. It gained momentum especially after the legendary Jashari epic and the fall of the legendary commander Adem Jashari. The KLA was mobilized massively, with thousands of men and women, the best our nation had, to protect our people from genocide. This is the truth, and it will be confirmed in this court… Every day we act on this truth. These actions are part of our daily work. In every international meeting I have attended, I have raised this topic, and it will culminate in the release of the KLA leaders and their return to Kosovo and their families,” he said.
Kosovo’s Foreign Minister, Glauk Konjufca, added that the entire state acted in accordance with the truth that there was no criminal enterprise at the core of the KLA, emphasizing that the KLA was a just army created by the people.
From The Hague, Deputy Prime Minister Konjufca said that Kosovo has consistently criticized the Specialist Chambers as an ethnic court that unjustly focused on the KLA.
He emphasized that he is in The Hague to confirm that the KLA’s war was just and clean.
According to him, this court seeks to distort the history of Kosovo.
“We have always criticized this court as an ethnic court that unfairly focused on the KLA, and I am here to confirm once again that our war—the war of the people of Kosovo—was a just war, a clean war, a defensive war. The goal of this war was not to attack any other people. The only targets of the KLA uniforms were the Serbian police and army—the uniformed occupiers who committed genocide in Kosovo, killing children, women, and the elderly, and murdering over 12,000 citizens of our Republic. No institution can change this truth; no court can alter it. What is happening in this court is an attempt to distort history. Even the foundation of this court, based on the Dick Marty report, turned out to be full of falsehoods regarding organ trafficking by the KLA, and on that basis this court was established,” he said.
According to the foreign minister, the prolonged trial of the former KLA leaders in The Hague has been a brutal violation of the right to a timely and fair trial.
“Today is the last day of this process, which lasted so long: the trial of the four KLA leaders. One of them, Thaci, was President of Kosovo; Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veseli were Speakers of our Assembly, while Rexhep Selimi was a KLA general and led the parliamentary group in the Assembly of Kosovo. They have now received an unjust punishment because the process lasted so long that I claim, and we all claim together, that the fundamental human right—the right to be tried within a reasonable time, protected by the United Nations Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights, and our Constitution—has been violated. I believe this right was violently violated, as it has been five years and three months that these KLA leaders have been held in isolation, away from their families and their country. It has been a brutal violation of the right to a timely trial,” he said.
When asked whether Kosovo will also have the opportunity to hold Jack Smith accountable for influencing witnesses, Konjufca said that it is reasonable and will continue to be pursued. However, he hopes that the final verdict in this trial will align with the history and glory of the KLA.
