They won the war, but cannot find peace

By Rildo Ngjela

Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi led the armed resistance toward liberation and liberation toward state-building. The decision in The Hague shows that winning the war does not guarantee peace. Peace turns out not to be that simple to guarantee. It needs international alliances, strong institutions, documentation of the past and, of course, credible justice. Nearly three decades later, today, Kosovo has gone out to fight again, but on different and more complex fronts than the first one.

In fact, the decision, cruel as it is, declared them heroes for a second time, making them not only liberators but also guarantors of Kosovo’s freedom. This decision has struck down all charges of crimes against humanity. The perverse prosecutors failed to prove that the KLA had carried out systematic attacks against the civilian population. What makes it more significant is the fact that it legally distinguishes it from the organized and systemic violence exercised by Serbia. It is the moment for Kosovo to defend this distinction in parallel, on appeal.

The people’s anger is something natural in this case, but this anger must not go beyond Kosovo’s borders, much less toward allies like the United States, NATO or the European Union. That would further harm those four men and Kosovo itself, which today more than ever needs its allies.

Freedom is not ACCUSED!

Freedom is not TRIED!

Freedom is not PUNISHED!

Let us do a little arithmetic of the decision compared to the decisions against the aggressor. The sentences for Thaçi, Krasniqi, Veseli and Selimi amount to a total of 81 years in prison. On the other hand, five senior Serb and Yugoslav officials have been sentenced by the ICTY for the crimes in Kosovo to 89 years of imprisonment. Almost the same. Meanwhile, a broader calculation gives us another picture. Albanians have been sentenced to 480 years in prison and Serbs to 330 years in prison by various courts. This gives all Albanians the right to think that the KLA has so far carried and is carrying a greater judicial burden than the very aggressor against whom it fought.

History is not CHANGED!

History is not REWRITTEN!

History is not DENIED!

The matter becomes more serious when examining the precedents included in the same legal architecture. In the case of Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu, the ICTY accepted the fact that the detainees had been treated cruelly, tortured and then killed, but rejected the prosecution’s claim of the existence of a joint criminal enterprise aimed at imprisoning and killing Serbs together with those considered Albanian collaborators. As a result, Limaj and Musliu were declared innocent, while Haradin Bala was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

The case of Ramush Haradinaj followed a similar logic. The crimes in Jabllanicë were proven and prosecutors claimed the same charges as above, but Haradinaj’s involvement in those crimes remained unproven. Haradinaj and Idriz Balaj were cleared of the charges, while the Specialist Chambers gave 6 years to Lahi Brahimaj, 15 years to Sali Mustafa and 13 years to Pjetër Shala, after the court expressed for the latter that the initial sentence of 18 years was outside reasonable proportion with comparable cases.

So, for the same cases, legal precedent exists and has indeed been used. Because a serious court always takes precedents into account. The court and the trial panel must explain to Albanians why, when the same conflict and the same categories of victims are producing radically different decisions.

Why were the precedents involving the same charges left out of the judges’ reasoning? Could it be that this court considers those decisions unjust?

Kosovo, together with Albania, must investigate this matter calmly and with legal persistence.

The day after the decision, daylight exposed Kosovo’s institutional weakness. Although there were individual reactions from the prime minister, the Speaker of Parliament and Albanian political parties, Parliament was not called into an extraordinary session, at least to formulate and approve a joint stance condemning the decision. The Parliament of Albania did the opposite, unanimously approving a joint declaration condemning the decision as profoundly unjust.

In Kosovo, silence. What a shame!

These politicians were elected by the people to represent their voice. They remained unrepresented for at least 48 hours by those who should have been at the forefront of Kosovo’s defense. The people demand a reaction, with one voice. So, setting aside personal grudges, let them make a joint declaration to distribute to all Western chancelleries and diplomatic missions. At least as a start, because this would place Kosovo’s stance in the international register and would give diplomatic representatives a clear official document on their stance and organization.

The war brought freedom. Today, peace requires Kosovo to defend that freedom with the authority of the law.