Berisha on the Specialist Court’s verdict against former KLA leaders: ‘Nothing tarnishes Kosovo’s liberation war’

Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha has reacted to the latest ruling of the Specialist Chambers in The Hague against the former political and military leadership of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

Berisha described the past week as a grave moment for Albanians, stressing that no judicial decision can diminish or tarnish Kosovo’s liberation war.

“But in this case, we must be open: from that reading of the abbreviated decision by Judge Charles Smith, the impression is created that the defendants were convicted for command lines, and this is naturally absolutely unsustainable if it is not proven with documents. Because it is well known — the KLA was indeed a powerful guerrilla movement, but it was not a regular army as he presented it in his decision.

Their representatives in Tirana, Mr. Thaçi, Mr. Krasniqi, were undoubtedly the key figures, but the distance from the field was very great. Therefore, apart from that, Albanians find it very difficult to imagine that the architects of the infamous Operation Horseshoe — the operation of mass ethnic cleansing and genocide in Kosovo — would receive much lighter sentences than Kosovo’s liberators. So, once again, we have supported and we support the punishment of concrete perpetrators and of concrete crimes,” Berisha said in a conversation with citizens on social media.

During his remarks, Berisha underlined that justice must act for every concrete crime or act, but raised critical questions about the legal basis and the “command line” argument used by the court.

“So, once again, we have supported and we support the punishment of concrete perpetrators and of concrete crimes.

But command lines, and sentencing by command lines, has no solid basis, and I think that in this framework the legal framework on which the legislator established the court constitutes a very serious problem.

Since we are on the subject of the court, beyond emotions: the establishment of the Kosovo Court — every Albanian in Kosovo should know that its establishment in The Hague was made due to an obligation,” Berisha said.