The Vetëvendosje Movement announced through a post on Facebook that it will support the protest to be held in Tirana in solidarity with the KLA leaders currently on trial in The Hague.
According to Vetëvendosje, their stance on the Specialist Court remains unchanged. The party reiterated that the war of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was just and necessary.
Full statement:
“The Vetëvendosje Movement stands alongside all citizens who will protest tomorrow to demand justice for the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army in Tirana. Our stance on the Specialist Court remains unchanged.
Let us recall that the Specialist Court did not come about on its own; its roots trace back to 2008, when a resolution was proposed in the Council of Europe by the head of the Russian Federation’s delegation, Konstantin Kosachev, and later approved in 2011 as a resolution sponsored by Senator Dick Marty.
The war of the Kosovo Liberation Army was just and necessary. On the other hand, the prosecution’s claim that there existed a criminal group or a parallel structure within the KLA is inaccurate and unjust. The KLA was not a criminal enterprise and had no such structures. On the contrary, Serbia should be tried for war crimes — it is the perpetrator of genocide and of massive, systematic crimes against the people of Kosovo.
However, for our nation and state to move forward sincerely, we must reflect on our past positions regarding this Court at the time of its establishment. Reflection is not a mistake, but many of those who today oppose the Specialist Court were its strongest advocates when it was being founded. Before protesting, these actors and politicians should show at least minimal remorse for their past wrong positions. A clear example is the current Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, who even flew urgently to Kosovo by helicopter to convince parties here to vote in favor of creating this Court.
But the Vetëvendosje Movement — as in 2015, so too in 2025 — remains steadfast that justice must illuminate the truth, and the truth can only stand on the side of the KLA’s just struggle and the unwavering effort of the people of Kosovo for liberation and independence, like all other nations.
On the other hand, the institutions of Albania, as a member of the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO, and a country close to the European Union, have both the responsibility and the opportunity to raise this issue in those international forums — where justice is discussed and decided — and not merely in Skënderbeu Square in Tirana.
Likewise, Kosovo’s friendly states that are already members of these organizations must do much more to defend the truth of our war and advance justice — just as more must be done in these forums to achieve recognition of the genocide and prosecution of war crimes committed by Serbia in Kosovo and throughout the Balkans.”
