The Humanitarian Law Fund (HLC) in Serbia, the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo (HLC Kosovo) and the RECOM Reconciliation Network have said that the first-instance judgment against four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders has established facts about wartime crimes that cannot be dismissed because of dominant narratives surrounding the KLA’s war for independence.
In a joint statement, the three human rights organizations said the judgment documents detention sites, torture, killings and disappearances of Serbs, Roma and Kosovo Albanians, including members of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), people with no political affiliation, as well as KLA members and supporters.
The organizations stressed that labeling victims as “collaborators” cannot justify their abduction, torture or killing.
They also said that criticism in Kosovo over the lack of prosecutions in Serbia of senior Yugoslav Army and Serbian police officers for crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians is understandable.
The groups argued that accountability for wartime crimes must be applied regardless of the ethnicity of the victims or the affiliation of those accused, emphasizing the importance of establishing a comprehensive factual record of the Kosovo war.
Their statement comes after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague issued its first-instance judgment in the case against former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.
The organizations said the judgment should contribute to a broader process of confronting documented crimes and strengthening accountability across the region, rather than being used to reinforce competing nationalist narratives.
