Protesters in Tirana on October 17, 2025. Photo: BIRN/Fjori Sinoruka.
Hundreds of supporters of the Kosovo Liberation Army’s wartime struggle against Serbian forces rallied in the Albanian capital Tirana on Friday to protest against the war crimes trial of Kosovo’s former President Hashim Thaci and three other ex-KLA officers in The Hague.
Rallying at the main Skenderbeu Square, protesters held banners with slogans like “We will not allow history to be rewritten in The Hague”, “Freedom for the liberators”, “The Special Court is not justice but international betrayal”.
One protesters, 67-year-old Raif Aliu, said he travelled from Tetovo in North Macedonia to join the rally. “I came here because they are innocent.” Aliu said. “I feel very sorry [for them],” he added.
Hysni Gucati, head of the KLA war veterans’ organisation, told the crowd that by trying Thaci and his co-defendants Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers war crimes court is “trying to equate the victim with the executioner”.
“We are here to defend the sacred war [against Serbian forces]… The entire world has seen the Serbian [war] crimes,” Gucati said.
“Tirana today is the capital of all Albanians and today we are telling the whole world that Kosovo fought for its freedom,” he added.
This is the third major protest against the trial of Thaci at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in recent months, following rallies in Pristina and The Hague before the start of the defence case in the trial in September.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said that he would have taken part in Friday’s rally but could not attend because the risk of politicisation “would harm its purpose and popularity”.
Rama’s comment came after the Tirana protest reignited his feud with the biggest party in Kosovo, Vetevendosje, which is led by acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
The row erupted when Vetevendosje accused political figures who are now against the Hague court, including Rama, of once having backed it.
Rama, who has an uneasy relationship with Vetevendosje’s leader Kurti, responded by saying that he has consistently condemned the war crimes arrest of former Kosovo President Thaci.
Rama added that a decade ago, when the Hague court was established, Vetevendosje “did not even recognise the Kosovo [national] anthem, let alone the innocence of Hashim Thaci, who it would love [to stay] in The Hague eternally”. Thaci used to be the leader of a rival party to Vetevendosje, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK.
Thaci was indicted in October 2020 and resigned as Kosovo’s president to face the charges. He was sent to stand trial in The Hague with former parliament speakers Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veseli and former MP Rexhep Selimi, all of whom were high-ranking KLA figures during wartime.
The four are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Kosovo war, including the murders of about 100 people. They have all pleaded not guilty.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers are part of Kosovo’s justice system but are based in The Hague with an international staff to ensure fair proceedings after witness intimidation problems in previous KLA-related cases.
Many ethnic Albanians and KLA supporters insist that the court is biased as it is only trying Kosovo fighters, leaving many crimes by Serbian forces unpunished. Despite their political differences, most parties in Kosovo support Friday’s protest.
