Mayors React After the Hague Convicts Four Former KLA Leaders

The mayors of Mitrovica, Drenas, Rahovec, Podujeva, Malisheva and Fushe Kosova have reacted after today’s verdict in The Hague against former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.

Mitrovica mayor Arian Tahiri said he does not accept the verdict as just and that he disagrees with the way the Specialist Court, in his view, treated the KLA war.

“The Specialist Court can hand down verdicts, but it cannot rewrite the history of Kosovo,” Tahiri wrote, adding that he will continue to seek justice for the four former KLA leaders.

Drenas mayor Ramiz Lladrovci described the decision as an “injustice” and wrote that he is “deeply shocked” by the verdict.

“Justice today became injustice!” Lladrovci wrote.

He said the purpose of the KLA was freedom and the liberation of Kosovo, and stated that opposing the decision remains, in his view, a priority for the protection of former KLA members and Kosovo’s institutions.

Rahovec mayor Smajl Latifi also reacted against the verdict.

“Never in the name of the people of Kosovo!” Latifi wrote, adding that “history is not undone and cannot be changed in courtrooms.”

Meanwhile, Malisheva mayor Ekrem Kastrati wrote that “justice disappointed us today.”

“Our liberators continue to be held far from their families, far from their homeland! For the people, you will forever be the deserving bearers of freedom,” Kastrati wrote.

Fushe Kosova mayor Valon Prebreza also reacted, writing only: “NOT IN MY NAME!”

Finally, Podujeva mayor Shpejtim Bulliqi reacted.

“The war of the Kosovo Liberation Army was just, clean and liberating. Today’s decision is unjust and cannot change the truth; the KLA is carved into the foundations of our state and the hearts of our citizens,” Bulliqi wrote.

The reactions of the municipal mayors come after today’s verdict in The Hague against Thaci, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi.