Prenkaj: Kosovo Government does not treat judgment against KLA leaders as a priority

Former Kosovo Ambassador Albert Prenkaj said that the convictions of the four KLA leaders represented a “very difficult” issue for Kosovo and criticized the Kosovo Government for failing to treat the Specialist Chambers’ decision as a priority, Klan Kosova reported.

Prenkaj said that although the decision had affected a large proportion of Kosovo’s citizens, political spectrum and civil society, this had not been reflected in the response of the highest institutions.

“After several days have passed, I can say that, for the Kosovo Government and Kosovo’s highest institutions, this issue is not a priority. It is not an issue that has disturbed or affected them in the way it has affected a very high percentage of Kosovo’s citizens, the political spectrum and civil society,” Prenkaj said.

He added that this could be illustrated by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s trip to New York, where, he was convinced, Kurti would have to confront this “very difficult issue.”

“A dark issue, as I would call it, which will follow Kosovo for a long time, until Kosovo itself recovers, unites its political forces and develops a new discourse that will enable it to return to the international stage with a clean image,” Prenkaj told Klan Kosova.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague delivered first-instance judgments against four former KLA leaders—Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi—on September 16.

Thaci and Krasniqi were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, Veseli to 18 years and Selimi to 13 years. According to the summary of the judgment, the Panel found all four criminally responsible for the war crimes of arbitrary arrest and detention involving 385 persons, cruel treatment involving 49 persons, torture involving 303 persons and murder involving 96 persons.