PDK lawmaker Altin Krasniqi raised in parliament the issue of the trial taking place in The Hague against former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). He is the son of former parliament speaker and former KLA spokesperson Jakup Krasniqi.
In his speech, Krasniqi said that Kosovo’s independence and freedom did not come as a gift, but were won through war, sacrifice and the help of allies. He voiced his opposition to the way the former KLA leaders are being treated in the proceedings in The Hague, as he put it.
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According to the lawmaker, the former KLA leaders are not standing trial for individual actions, but because of the political positions they held during the war.
“Six years have passed since the arrest of the KLA leaders and 50 days since September 16, the day the verdict was announced in The Hague. On September 16, 2026, Jakup, Hashim, Kadri and Rexhep were not convicted for their individual actions, but for the political positions they had held,” Krasniqi said.
He also criticized the court’s interpretation of the KLA’s internal organization, referring to Judge Smith’s position on the role of the Political Directorate of the General Staff.
“It was no coincidence that Judge Smith insisted that the KLA Political Directorate was an organ above the other organs and had authority over the entire KLA. Nor was it a coincidence that there was an attempt to hold responsible those people who were in some way connected to the Political Directorate of the KLA General Staff,” he said.
Krasniqi claimed that this approach also seeks to undermine the aims of the KLA’s war, which, according to him, have remained the same across generations.
“There is only one reason: they want to tarnish the KLA’s objectives, which have been the same across generations—Kosovo’s freedom and independence, nothing more and nothing less. This freedom was achieved through great effort, blood and lives lost,” the PDK lawmaker stressed.
