The Organization of Veterans of the KLA (OVL-UÇK) has expressed concern that lectures related to the Special Court in schools across Kosovo may be an attempt to influence public opinion and students against the KLA and its former leaders currently on trial in The Hague.
Hysni Gucati, chairman of OVL-UÇK, told EO that he was surprised by these developments and described such actions as unacceptable.
“We were taken by surprise; honestly, we did not expect that a Special Court—or a court that is one-sided, as you know, a court we have never recognized and will never recognize—would go and campaign in schools. This has happened for the first time; I haven’t heard of it before. I don’t know how the school principal allowed representatives of that court to go and hold lectures. We don’t know if they conducted anti-KLA campaigning or campaigning against KLA members, those in The Hague, the president, or others. Or maybe they are preparing a ground to influence public opinion, starting now by going to children and schools to try to turn the students against the KLA,” he said.
Gucati called on schools not to allow such activities and urged local authorities to take measures against school administrators who permitted these lectures.
“They are preparing some sort of ground, which for us is unacceptable, and we condemn such actions. I appeal to all schools in Kosovo not to allow the Special Court to conduct campaigns or lectures anywhere in our schools. It would be appropriate for the municipal mayor to take measures against the principal—not to suspend them, far from it—but to take disciplinary measures and ask who authorized this. Because it didn’t happen out of nowhere; someone called them and told them to allow representatives of the Special Court to go to ‘Xhevdet Doda’ School to hold lectures or campaigns in schools,” Gucati added.
