The book “When Silence Speaks” by former diplomat Ahmet Shala was promoted, a work dedicated to the trial in The Hague against former leaders of the KLA and, as stated, to the injustices they have faced during this process for more than five years.
At the promotion, author Ahmet Shala said he wrote the book as a citizen who has seen, heard, and personally experienced the pain that does not fade — delayed justice.
“This book was not born simply to be a publication; it was born as a need of my soul, as a deep and long-suppressed feeling and as a voice that burst out spontaneously. I did not write as an academic, but as an ordinary person of this country. I wrote as a citizen who has seen, heard, and personally experienced the pain that does not fade — delayed justice. Those who now rest in paradise speak. They are where they should not have been; silence has weighed on them more than any word — our silence. Kosovo’s history is not divided into chapters like the histories of the world. It is one, indivisible,” Shala said.
Meanwhile, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said the country’s history must be protected at all times and in all places, and to protect it, it must be written — as Ahmet Shala has done.
“Freedom was more precious than life itself. This history and truth must be protected with pride at all times and in every place, anywhere in the world, because the KLA is the most powerful ideal built by Albanians through the centuries. To protect the truth, we must write it. History does not always speak loudly. It brings us face to face with the truth of The Hague, the meetings with former KLA leaders and the visits, turning silence into a powerful voice. This book addresses not only Shala’s personal account, but also the unjust trial being conducted against our vital processes. The book describes the consequences of the war, from numerous massacres to wounds that time does not heal,” President Osmani said.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, said that the KLA leaders themselves voted for the Special Court, but did not know it would be one-sided.
Rama also mentioned the threat received over two years by President Vjosa Osmani, who, he said, did not allow prosecutors to search the office of the President’s institution.
He stressed that the prosecutors in The Hague are instruments of a court that is even more political than Serbia’s courts in relation to Kosovo.
“Their activity has no connection whatsoever with terror, with the civilian population, with ethnic cleansing, with mass graves, with targeting children and women by snipers positioned for that purpose, or with rapes, killings, or drowning people in rivers. Nothing. They did not arm themselves to impose their rule over a foreign territory, but to remove foreign rule from their own land. In fact, they themselves voted in the Kosovo Parliament for a court which on paper is a Kosovo court, not a court to place Kosovo itself in the dock.
Today we are in circumstances where a very long-term plan has almost taken its final shape — although the court has the final word — a plan that began with the infamous report by Dick Marty on organ trafficking by the KLA leadership. That plan was pushed forward by representatives of Vladimir Putin in the Council of Europe. Even the President of Kosovo was threatened — and you do not know this. I am saying this for the first time today — because she did not allow prosecutors to violate the office of the President of Kosovo, as they would have sought evidence of crimes against humanity there as well. The threats against the President lasted two years, but to her credit and that of Kosovo, she prevented such a thing. Those prosecutors are instruments of a court that is even more political than Serbia’s courts in relation to Kosovo. Today we must ask ourselves what more we should do. I do not have the answer, but I am certain we must do more, because this is a catastrophe for international justice itself, for Europe, for the democratic West, which Kosovo tested,” Rama said.
Kosovo’s Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, said that the character of the KLA’s war was the reason why countries representing democratic values supported our people’s just war for freedom.
“It is a book that aims to preserve our history from attempts to rewrite it. I am convinced that no judicial process and no attempt at conviction will succeed in changing the nature of our war. It will remain humane, just and pure, and the character of our war will always remain liberating. The character of our war was the reason why countries representing democratic values supported our people’s just struggle for freedom. We remain hopeful that we will soon have the KLA leaders among us,” Maqedonci added.
The leader of DUI in North Macedonia, Ali Ahmeti, said they will act courageously for the truth.
“You had endured the loss of the dearest people of your blood and still spoke with compassion for the families of Kosovo’s fallen and the families of the liberators who are unjustly in handcuffs simply because they fought for the freedom and dignity of the nation to which they belonged. We all know that an unjust trial is taking place here, accusations for acts not committed simply because they were patriotic liberators and organizers of resistance and war. We will not break, just as the families of our friends and comrades-in-arms who are in The Hague do not break. We will act courageously for the truth,” he added.
