WHO IS WHO – Andin Hoti: From Head of the Commission on Missing Persons to Minister for KLA values

In the Government of Kosovo, the position of Minister of Labour, Family and KLA Values will be held by Andin Hoti. Before joining the electoral list of the Self-Determination Movement, he served as Chairman of the Commission on Missing Persons. He frequently accused Serbia of concealing war crimes in Kosovo and of failing to cooperate in efforts to locate missing persons.

Prior to assuming the ministerial post, Hoti was appointed in 2021 as head of Kosovo’s Commission on Missing Persons.

At the time, he stated that for Pristina’s delegation in the Brussels dialogue with Belgrade, the issue of missing persons should not merely be a priority, but a condition for concluding any agreement.

“I do not believe that a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia should be reached without uncovering the truth about the fate of the missing in Kosovo,” Hoti said at the time.

He also called for Veljko Odalovic not to remain at the head of the Commission of the Government of Serbia on Missing Persons.

Accepted Self-Determination’s invitation ahead of the December elections

Andin Hoti appeared on the electoral list of the Self-Determination-led coalition for the parliamentary elections in December last year after, as he stated, accepting an invitation from the party’s leader and caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti to join them.

He assessed at the time that Kosovo was going through a period of highly sensitive challenges, and that external threats, internal divisions, and what he described as the “challenges of unfinished truths” required unity and responsibility.

“During four years as head of the Government Commission on Missing Persons, I witnessed the greatest pain and the greatest dignity among our citizens. This is my lesson from politics – there is no state without justice, and no justice without courage. My contribution will be an unwavering effort in addressing current challenges – strengthening the state and protecting the national interest. Kosovo is ours. It belongs to no one else,” Hoti stated.

Former member of the Democratic Party of Kosovo

Until 2021, Hoti was a member of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which he later left.

This was confirmed at the time by PDK leadership member Adri Nurelari, who, when asked about Hoti’s support for Prime Minister Albin Kurti regarding KLA archives, said he was not surprised that individuals change their positions after leaving a party.

“People change their loyalty in exchange for the positions they receive. This is not the first time someone has left the PDK and joined another party, changing their views and positions,” Nurelari said.

Called on the international community to increase pressure on Serbia

Upon assuming leadership of the Commission on Missing Persons in 2021, Hoti called on international actors to intensify pressure on Serbia to open its wartime archives.

“I accepted this institutional responsibility – emotional and sensitive due to the wounds that remain open because of the fate of our loved ones – as a duty to give my utmost to help heal the wounds of families in Kosovo who have been missing their loved ones for 22 years,” Hoti said.

Born in Pristina, father disappeared on 16 May 1999

Hoti was born in 1989 in Pristina. He is the son of Ukshin Hoti, a prominent Albanian activist who was repeatedly arrested from 1982 onwards and disappeared on 16 May 1999 after being released from Dubrava prison.

Hoti graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences and gained professional experience in the fields of public policy and international relations.

In his public appearances, he has frequently emphasized the importance of clarifying the fate of the missing as a “humanitarian issue above politics,” although his statements have often formed part of the broader political context of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.