The Council of Albanian Ambassadors has expressed deep concern and disappointment over the first-instance judgment delivered by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague against four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. While reaffirming its respect for the rule of law and judicial independence, the Council raised concerns over the length of the proceedings, prolonged pre-trial detention, the proportionality of the sentences and the standards applied during the trial.
Statement of the Council of Albanian Ambassadors (CAA)
The Council of Albanian Ambassadors (CAA) has followed with deep concern the delivery of the first-instance judgment by the Kosova Specialist Chambers in The Hague against former leaders of the Kosova Liberation Army.
While respecting the principles of the rule of law, the independence of judicial institutions, and every victim’s right to justice, the CAA expresses its profound disappointment with this judgment. The CAA also raises serious concerns regarding the extraordinary length of the proceedings, the defendants’ prolonged pre-trial detention, the proportionality of the sentences, and the standards applied throughout the trial.
The CAA recalls that the struggle of the Kosova Liberation Army was a just war of liberation against the oppression, ethnic cleansing, and systematic violence perpetrated by Slobodan Milošević’s regime. This struggle received the support of the democratic world, while NATO’s intervention brought an end to a humanitarian tragedy that had forced approximately one million Kosova Albanians from their homes.
The state, military, and police machinery of the Milošević regime, as well as senior officials within it, were prosecuted and convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for crimes committed in Kosova and elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia. The documented crimes of that regime, including killings, massacres, forced expulsions, and the systematic persecution of civilians, cannot be relativised or equated with the freedom struggle of the people of Kosovo and their leaders.
The judgment against the four former KLA leaders is not, and must never be interpreted as, a judgment against the people of Kosovo, the Kosovo Liberation Army, or Kosova’s struggle for freedom and independence. No judicial decision can tarnish the sacrifice of thousands of martyrs and victims, invalidate the historic right of the people of Kosova to freedom, or erase the fundamental distinction between the aggressor and the victim. Kosova’s history and the liberating character of its struggle cannot be rewritten.
The CAA notes that the initial international reactions have reaffirmed the importance of justice and accountability, while the judgment has generated profound concern and strong opposition in Kosova and throughout the diaspora. In this context, the CAA calls upon Kosova’s international partners to maintain a clear and balanced position: respect for judicial proceedings must not lead to the relativisation of Serbian aggression, the moral equivalence of the parties, or the rewriting of the history of Kosova’s struggle for liberation.
The CAA expects the appeals process to examine, with complete impartiality and the utmost rigor, the evidence, the legal findings, the determination of responsibility, and the proportionality of the sentences, while fully safeguarding the convicted persons’ right to a fair trial. The judgment delivered is a first-instance judgment, and the available legal remedies have not yet been exhausted.
At the same time, the CAA calls upon the international community to apply the same standards of justice to the mass crimes committed by Serbian state forces in Kosova. Justice cannot be complete, equal, or credible while many of those responsible for massacres, forced expulsions, sexual violence, destruction, and enforced disappearances continue to enjoy impunity.
The CAA expresses its solidarity with the people of Kosova and the families of those convicted and calls for calm, unity, dignity, and confidence in the legal remedies provided by law.
COUNCIL OF ALBANIAN AMBASSADORS
Tirana, 16 September 2026
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