Who Is Who – Albulena Haxhiu: Accused by the opposition of violating the Constitution as Minister of Justice, elected Speaker of the Assembly today

Albulena Haxhiu (38), who served as Minister of Justice in the “Kurti 1” and “Kurti 2” governments and was frequently the target of opposition criticism over her management of the justice portfolio, was elected today as Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo.

She received 66 votes in favor, 44 against, while eight members abstained.

Self-Determination had nominated Haxhiu several times for Speaker during the previous parliamentary term as well, but at that time she did not secure sufficient support. Ultimately, Glauk Konjufca was elected Speaker, and Haxhiu served as Deputy Speaker.

When the previous parliamentary term was constituted in October last year, Haxhiu stated that, in forming the Government, her party was open to coalition with other parties, except for Srpska Lista and the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

Ahead of the December 28 elections, she stated that Srpska Lista does not represent a legitimate political entity because it does not recognize Kosovo, and that its candidates should not participate in the elections.

She entered politics in September 2010, becoming a member of Self-Determination at a time when it was still an extra-parliamentary political organization.

In the 2010 elections, at the age of 23, she was elected the youngest member of the Assembly in that term. During her parliamentary career, she chaired the Committee on Legislation and the Subcommittee on Mandates, Immunities and Rules of Procedure.

Regarding the request by the prosecutor of the Specialist Chambers in The Hague to sentence former KLA leaders to 45 years in prison, she stated two days ago that this constituted an act of injustice and an insult to Albanian war victims.

“The KLA is being treated as if it were the cause of the war, rather than a response to the terror of the Serbian state. This is a distortion of history. Demanding such lengthy prison sentences for KLA leaders and soldiers reflects a tendency to deprive Kosovo of its moral right to liberation and to equate the victim with the executioner,” she said.

As one of the most significant achievements of the ministry she led on two occasions, Haxhiu highlights the establishment of the Institute for Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo. She has also repeatedly stated that Kosovo’s institutions are working on preparing a lawsuit against Serbia for genocide.

She has expressed the view that Pristina made its greatest mistake in 2013 by signing the Brussels Agreement with Belgrade, which envisages the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-Majority Municipalities, and that an even greater mistake was its ratification in the Kosovo Assembly. She has also stated that an Association with executive powers will not be formed.

As Minister of Justice, Haxhiu was criticized by the opposition, which argued that she had failed to deliver judicial reform and had interfered in the work of the judiciary. She was repeatedly accused of violating the Constitution, with calls for her resignation.

Her response to such demands was that those seeking her resignation were individuals who had recognized the Government’s seriousness in implementing judicial reform and whose interests were thereby threatened.

One of the scandals during her ministerial mandate occurred in 2022, when blood samples disappeared from the “Dehari” case at the Toxicology Laboratory of the Institute of Forensic Medicine. Astrit Dehari, a Self-Determination activist, was found dead in a detention cell in Prizren in 2016, and the circumstances of his death have never been fully clarified. The opposition demanded her resignation at that time as well.

She denied allegations by family members of detained Serbs in Podujevo, as well as by their lawyers, that prison staff were treating them poorly—claiming they were not receiving adequate medical therapy or food and that the Law on the Use of Languages was not being respected. According to her, there were no cases of mistreatment of detainees on the basis of ethnicity.

She once described Srpska Lista as a “time bomb” in Kosovo, criticizing the opposition for allowing the Serbian party to be certified for participation in the February 9 elections last year.

When 12 Serbs were arrested in Prizren in April 2025 while visiting a monastery and later released to defend themselves from freedom, Haxhiu criticized Kosovo’s judicial authorities, stating that it was “concerning how easily they were released.”

Her husband, Alban Krasniqi, was appointed in August 2022 as a political adviser to the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi. At the time, Minister Krasniqi stated that he was honored to have the husband of Minister Albulena Haxhiu as part of his team, that his services would be provided free of charge, and that this would not affect Kosovo’s budget.

Lawyer from Pristina

Haxhiu was born in Pristina on May 11, 1987. She completed her studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pristina and pursued postgraduate studies at the South East European University, specializing in criminal law.

She is a member of the Presidency of the Self-Determination Movement, and in 2022 she was elected president of the organization Women for Self-Determination. In 2023, Prime Minister Albin Kurti appointed her National Coordinator for the fight against domestic violence, violence against women, and gender-based violence. She is married and the mother of three children.