Acting President of Kosovo Albulena Haxhiu has reacted to the convictions handed down by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers against four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Haxhiu described the sentences against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi as, in her words, a deeply shocking development for the Republic of Kosovo and a painful moment for Albanians.
She said that her thoughts are first and foremost with the families of the four former KLA leaders, who, she noted, have carried the burden of years of absence, waiting and uncertainty.
Haxhiu also placed the verdict within the broader context of Kosovo’s wartime experience, recalling the violence carried out by Serbian state forces against Kosovo’s civilian population, including killings, massacres, mass expulsions and thousands of victims and missing persons.
“This experience is an indelible part of the memory of Kosovo and the Albanian nation,” Haxhiu said, emphasizing that the sentences have made an already heavy burden even harder for the families of the convicted former KLA leaders.
