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By Hashim Thaçi/ The Hague charges, as an insult to the heroes who gave their lives for freedom

2026-02-18 16:25:00, Opinione Hashim Thaçi

By Hashim Thaçi/ The Hague charges, as an insult to the heroes who gave

Not only is it completely untrue, utterly absurd, but it is also deeply offensive. It is an insult to the memory of the thousands of heroes who gave their lives for freedom. It is an insult to the tens of thousands of innocent victims killed during the massacres. It is an insult, even an unfair one, to the efforts of NATO and the Western Alliance with which I worked closely.

Let me repeat an eternal truth. The only, but absolutely the only opponent of me, the people of Kosovo and the democratic world was Slobodan Milosevic.

It is hard to hear this accusation, especially when during the war I did not know if I would be alive from hour to hour and from day to day. I was not sure if I would see my family, my wife and my newborn son. Let alone dream of exercising control in Kosovo. In Kosovo completely occupied for about 90 years. The fact that we are alive today is completely coincidental and lucky.

I did not return to risk my life for control and power. I returned to my homeland risking my life for freedom and peace. The question that arises today is: taking control from whom? Who? The truth is that control and power were completely, absolutely completely, in the entire territory of Kosovo in the iron hands of Slobodan Milosevic, no one else.

The Albanians did not exercise power, it is paradoxical. They were oppressed by the power of Slobodan Milosevic. Our mission as a people was clear: survival, freedom and peace. I had no illusions at all, but our only hope for salvation was the democratic world, the United States of America and NATO. Therefore, my entire focus was on building and strengthening this alliance.

For this purpose, I traveled to many capitals to convince them of our just cause: to Brussels, London, Berlin, Paris, Bern, Oslo, Vienna and other places. But wherever I was, I was in constant contact with officials of the American administration. Milosevic had started the war in Kosovo, while we Kosovars were only defending ourselves. But only NATO could end the war, no one else. And that is how it happened. If it were not for NATO's intervention, there would be no freedom for Kosovo, there would be no independence for Kosovo either. Therefore, independence was not an instrument to seize power, but for dignity.

This prosecution praised me a lot, gave me many titles and ranks. But the truth is completely different. I was not the one who transported the resistance from the West to Kosovo. I joined the resistance in Kosovo. It was not my return from the West that was the reason why the KLA was gaining mass. The reason was Slobodan Milosevic. And no one has said it better than the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, I quote: 'Milosevic, with his behavior towards the people of Kosovo, is the biggest recruiter of the Kosovo Liberation Army.'

The KLA was not a state, it was not the army of a state. It was a popular organization that was being protected from an aggressor state. The fact that the KLA was not organized as the prosecution claims it was, does not diminish its role for the freedom of Kosovo. It does not make its cause for liberation any less noble, nor the achievement of independence any less historic.

Kosovo's victory was more political and diplomatic. The greatest success of the people of Kosovo was their complete unification and trust with the West. They helped us precisely because they knew who we were and what our purpose was. I would not, at any price, under any circumstances, risk this alliance with anything in this world. Because that would be risking the very freedom of Kosovo, I would be risking our collective existence.

*Full speech of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi in his final defense before the Hague Tribunal, February 18, 2026





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