Limaj: Going to elections would mean abandoning the defence of the former KLA leaders in The Hague

The leader of the Social Democratic Initiative and former KLA commander, Fatmir Limaj, has said that going to elections at this time would mean, in his view, evading institutional responsibility and giving up on efforts to defend the former KLA leaders who are facing trial in The Hague.

Speaking on the “Debat Plus” programme, Limaj said elections could bring a new period without functional institutions, while the proceedings in The Hague would continue in the meantime.

“If we go to elections, we go to escape this responsibility. It is giving up on their defence. If we go to elections, these people want to evade the responsibility they have to take. For another six months you have no institutions here, while over there the procedures are completed. And goodbye — that is the result,” Limaj said.

He said Kosovo’s institutions must continue their work and take concrete steps on the issue of the former KLA leaders, including examining the possibilities for legal changes.

“People have to shed responsibility, they have to go to elections. We don’t want to ask for work, we don’t want to move forward with this work. It has to be returned to through the law, it has to be looked at, work has to be done, demands have to be made, we have to go and get it,” he said.

Limaj said that so far he has not been contacted by the Government or the opposition parties to offer his help on this issue.

He said he has expressed his readiness to contribute if the institutions need his experience or his ideas.

“I am ready, if they need my help. For whatever they need, for my services, for my ideas. To this day nobody has contacted me. If they don’t need me, let them say so,” Limaj said.