The head of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group, Taulant Balla, declared in the Albanian Parliament that Albania must defend what he described as the clean and just war of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA/UÇK).
He called it unacceptable that prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague attempt to characterize the KLA as a criminal enterprise.
“It is unacceptable how a liberation war can be burdened with such accusations, which are not even based on evidence. Even more serious is the conclusion that the victim is portrayed as more guilty than the killer or the rapist — and more guilty than those who, to this day, bear responsibility for 1,600 bodies of our brothers and sisters from Kosovo, who in that degrading bureaucratic language are called ‘missing,’ dead but not buried.”
Balla stated that whenever Albanian officials speak with international partners, they carry a moral, political, and national responsibility to raise the issue of the innocence of the four former KLA leaders:
- Hashim Thaçi
- Kadri Veseli
- Jakup Krasniqi
- Rexhep Selimi
He emphasized that they not only fought for Kosovo’s freedom but also contributed to the creation of the state of Kosovo. Recalling February 17, he reminded lawmakers of the historic day when Albania’s Parliament gathered to follow the declaration of Kosovo’s independence, delivered by President Thaçi.
The MP added that, in his view, “shame belongs to the prosecutors” who today describe the founders of Kosovo’s state as members of a criminal enterprise.
“If we fail to do everything necessary to stop this injustice, history will judge us as well — for not defending the bright history of the Kosovo Liberation Army when we were entrusted to represent our people.”
