Laci: Decision in the case against Taci and others aims to tarnish the KLA

Journalist and analyst Dritan Laci tells Kosovo Online that he expected the four former KLA leaders to be found guilty, but that, having reviewed the judgment and the reasoning provided with it, he believes it contains many shortcomings, and that it amounts to a kind of collective punishment.

Laci also says he expected a far lighter sentence than the 45 years in prison sought by the prosecution.

“Although it was said from the outset that this was not a judgment against the KLA, nor against the KLA war, which I consider a war for freedom, but rather an individual judgment for crimes committed by people who held leadership positions in that war, when it comes to individual responsibility, we are talking about people who fought for their people in Kosovo and helped Kosovo achieve independence. In other words, they were prepared to sacrifice their lives. In that sense, it is understandable that it is difficult to separate their responsibility from that of the KLA. I see this as a decision that, essentially, appears to be indirectly aimed at tarnishing the KLA's liberation war, even though the judges did not say that. It would be logical for this not to be stated in this form,” Laci says.

He also points out that this appears to be a general decision rather than one concerning an individual.

“So, the role of Hashim Taci as a political leader was emphasized in statements issued by the KLA itself, such as statements concerning collaborators. Let us imagine ourselves on the ground where fighting is taking place, where there are different warring forces, where agencies have an influence, where there are collaborators, and so on. Can one or more statements against collaborators be taken as the basis for convicting a political leader? That is, de facto, what the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague did. We can see that the names of the witnesses are not given. It is said that someone saw someone bleeding or saw people chained, but we are not actually told who those people were. So, who were these people who were tortured, and what was their role in this war? Were they actually collaborators?” Laci said.

He also recalls that Kosovo, in a way, gave this type of legitimacy to the Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

“So, we must say that this is also our mistake, that is, Kosovo's mistake, because it gave up its own legal legitimacy and handed it over to a court such as the one in The Hague. If you are looking for examples, I do not believe there is any other country in Europe that, despite being involved in a particular war and despite the crimes that were committed, has a Specialist Court in The Hague that prosecutes those crimes and holds people accountable for their involvement in them. Moreover, this becomes even more apparent when we see that the other warring side, which also committed massacres, is absent from this court. We are talking about massacres that were committed not only in Kosovo, but also about the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and so on, while those convicted can be counted on the fingers of one hand. When it comes to Kosovo, the Hague Tribunal thoroughly investigated war crimes, and that is a good thing, but there should also have been insistence on investigations and convictions on the other side,” Laci concludes.