Pristina’s main squares were not enough today to contain the surge of tens of thousands of Albanians who gathered in defense of the just war of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the commanders who they say have been unjustly accused in The Hague, placed on the same scale as Serbian war criminals who carried out the gravest massacres in the Balkans since the Second World War.

Among the Albanians arriving from all Albanian-speaking territories and the diaspora was the Head of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party and Political Leader for the Diaspora, Taulant Balla. He has consistently called for support and raised his voice against what he describes as a historic injustice taking place at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, where since 2020 former President Hashim Thaçi, former parliamentary speakers Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veseli, as well as former MP Rexhep Selimi, have been detained.

A few days earlier, Balla was also the initiator of a request for the Parliament of Albania to draft and vote on an official resolution in defense of the former KLA commanders. The resolution was approved last Thursday by both the left and the right with 92 votes in favor.

“The international justice institutions must declare the innocence of Hashim Thaçi, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli, and Rexhep Selimi through a fair and impartial process, ensuring that the instruments of justice are not turned into tools for rewriting history or equating the victim with the aggressor. Albania commits to undertaking every necessary diplomatic and political step in international forums to ensure that the historical truth about Kosovo’s liberation war is not undermined and that justice is administered fairly,” the resolution stated.