The Kosovo Assembly, with 99 votes in favor and none against, has approved a declaration concerning the judgment of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, in which former KLA leaders were convicted at first instance.
The declaration was read by Assembly Speaker Albulena Haxhiu, who said it had been agreed upon by all parliamentary parties, with the exception of the Serb List.
Haxhiu said that, through the declaration, the Assembly expresses its deep concern over the Specialist Chambers’ judgment against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.
Haxhiu said the Assembly calls on all state institutions of Kosovo to take all necessary actions to protect the truth and the integrity of the KLA’s war.
The declaration also calls for the drafting of a joint state strategy to coordinate all legal, institutional and diplomatic actions to protect and affirm the truth about Kosovo’s just war for freedom and liberation.
In addition, while reading the declaration, Haxhiu said the Assembly calls on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague to respect their mandate in accordance with the will of Kosovo.
Members of the Serb List were not present in the plenary session.
Full declaration:
The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, as the representative institution of citizens and an expression of their democratic will, at the plenary session held on September 28, 2026;
Recalling that Kosovo’s freedom and independence are the result of a long struggle for human dignity, equality and the right of a people to determine its own future;
Recalling that the people’s struggle for freedom and independence through the Kosovo Liberation Army emerged in the circumstances of systematic repression and genocidal crimes by Serbia, when the people of Kosovo were being denied fundamental rights and even the possibility of living freely in their own country;
Recognizing the decisive importance of NATO’s intervention in stopping the violence against the people of Kosovo and liberating the country;
Emphasizing that no judgment can undo the historical truth of the war in Kosovo. Serbia committed genocide and crimes against humanity; it carried out a brutal campaign of terror and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo; massacred innocent civilians, killed children, women and the elderly, used sexual violence as a weapon of war, forcibly expelled the population, and burned and destroyed entire villages and cities. These crimes were systematic, and their consequences continue to weigh on thousands of families to this day;
Convinced that respect for the rule of law also includes the right and responsibility to challenge, through legal and institutional means, a judgment considered unjust;
Kosovo’s freedom and independence are closely linked to the sacrifice of generations, the political and peaceful resistance led by President Ibrahim Rugova, the war of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and the decisive support of our Western allies, including NATO;
Adopts this declaration:
- The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, as the representative institution of citizens and an expression of their democratic will, expresses its deep concern over the first-instance judgment against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.
2. It considers unacceptable the finding that a common criminal purpose existed.
3. CALLS ON all state institutions of the Republic of Kosovo to take all necessary actions to protect the truth and the integrity of the liberation war of the people of Kosovo. The Assembly calls for the drafting of a joint state strategy under which legal, institutional and diplomatic actions would be coordinated to protect and affirm the full historical truth about the just war for the freedom and liberation of Kosovo.
4. In Kosovo in 1998–1999, the existence of a joint criminal enterprise to expel Albanians from Kosovo has already been established through judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia against the political, military and police leadership of Yugoslavia and Serbia. It was carried out through the structures of a state that controlled the army, police and other instruments of power. This is the historical and judicial context that must remain clear whenever the war in Kosovo is discussed.
5. Calls on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers to respect their mandate in accordance with the will of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo.
6. OPPOSES any attempt to overturn Kosovo’s historical truth, question its liberation war, or equate the people who fought for freedom and survival with the regime that oppressed them.
7. The truth of the liberation war, justice for the victims and their families, and the right of the convicted to a fair trial belong to the same Republic. The Assembly will defend all three without compromise.
