Sylejman Selimi | |
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Born | Açarevë, Drenica, SAP Kosovo, SFR Yugoslavia | 25 September 1970 (age 53)
Allegiance |
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Years of service | 1991-2011 |
Rank |
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Wars and battles | Kosovo War (1998–99) |
Sylejman Selimi (born September 25, 1970) is the former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who was convicted of war crimes for the torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners at the Likovac detention center during the Kosovo War. [1] After the war, he served as Security Force of the Republic of Kosovo; [2] [3] [4] [5] he left this position in 2011 and became the ambassador to Albania. [6]
Selimi was born on September 25, 1970, in the village of Açarevë, Drenica.[ citation needed ] At the time, it was a part of SAP Kosovo. He finished primary education in his home town, attended his high school in Kline and finished his studies at the Faculty of Mining and Metallurgy in Kosovska Mitrovica.[ citation needed ]
Prior to the Kosovo Security force, Selimi was commander of its predecessor, the Kosovo Protection Corps. [3] On 19 December 2008, Selimi was appointed commander of the Kosovo Security force by Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi. [3]
During the Insurgency in Kosovo and the subsequently intense Kosovo War, he was the commander of Kosovo Liberation Army, an ethnic-Albanian paramilitary organisation that sought the separation of Kosovo from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) during the 1990s and the eventual creation of a Greater Albania. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Despite his noted contributions as the primary commander of the KLA, his lack of military experience inflicted heavy losses on the KLA's initial campaign. Due to these severe losses, he would later be replaced by the Croatian Army veteran, Agim Çeku.
Selimi insisted: [9]
There is de facto Albanian nation. The tragedy is that European powers after World War I decided to divide that nation between several Balkan states. We are now fighting to unify the nation, to liberate all Albanians, including those in Macedonia, Montenegro, and other parts of Serbia. We are not just a liberation army for Kosovo.
Selimi was convicted by Kosovo courts of torturing a civilian prisoner at a KLA detention camp in Likovc/Likovac. [13] He received an eight-year prison sentence but later the court cut his sentence to seven years [14] and was conditionally released in January 2019. Kosovo politicians celebrated his release, with President Hashim Thaci stating: "Kosovo is better and safer with the living hero Sylejman Selimi at liberty." [1] His appointment was criticised by the U.S. ambassador to Kosovo Philip S. Kosnett who stated "Convicted war criminals have no place in Kosovo's government" [15]
The Kosovo War, was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It was fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian separatist militia known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The conflict ended when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened by beginning air strikes in March 1999 which resulted in Yugoslav forces withdrawing from Kosovo.
The Kosovo Liberation Army was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the 1990s. Albanian nationalism was a central tenet of the KLA and many in its ranks supported the creation of a Greater Albania, which would encompass all Albanians in the Balkans, stressing Albanian culture, ethnicity and nation.
Ibrahim Rugova was a Kosovo-Albanian politician, scholar, and writer, who served as the President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova, serving from 1992 to 2000 and as President of Kosovo from 2002 until his death in 2006. He oversaw a popular struggle for independence, advocating a peaceful resistance to Yugoslav rule and lobbying for U.S. and European support, especially during the Kosovo War.
Agim Çeku, also known by the Croatians as the nickname Commander Scorched Earth, is a Kosovo Albanian politician, the former minister of Security Forces in Kosovo and formerly the prime minister. Of military background, he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that fought against Serbian rule in 1998–1999, earlier being a commander in the Croatian War of Independence in the Croatian Army.
The People's Movement of Kosovo was a political party in Kosovo active after the Kosovo War, having originally been founded as a political movement of Albanian nationalists in 1982. Despite participating in several elections in autonomous Kosovo, its pre-war existence was its most historically significant period. Historically, its support and membership came from Albanian diaspora, especially within Switzerland and Germany, originating mainly from former Yugoslav republics.
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The Kosovo Protection Corps was a civilian emergency services organization in Kosovo active from 1999 until 2009.
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosova was a military of Republic of Kosova, paramilitary organization and military wing of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the main right-wing party in Kosovo established by Ibrahim Rugova and Bujar Bukoshi. It was active during the Kosovo War from August 1998 until the war's end in June 1999.
Hashim Thaçi is a Kosovar Albanian politician who was the president of Kosovo from April 2016 until his resignation on 5 November 2020 to face a war crimes tribunal. He was the first prime minister of Kosovo and the Foreign minister and deputy prime minister in the new cabinet led by Isa Mustafa, which assumed office on 12 December 2014.
Drenica, also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering roughly around 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi) of Kosovo's total area (6%). It consists of two municipalities, Drenas and Skenderaj, and several villages in Klina, Zubin Potok, Mitrovica and Vushtrri. It is located west of the capital, Pristina.
Skenderaj or Srbica is a town and municipality located in the Mitrovica District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Skënderaj has 9,372 inhabitants, while the municipality has 50,858 inhabitants.
The Attack on Prekaz, also known as the Prekaz massacre, was an operation led by the Special Anti-Terrorism Unit of Serbia which lasted from 5 to 7 March 1998, whose goal was to eliminate Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) suspects and their families. During the operation, KLA leader Adem Jashari and his brother Hamëz were killed, along with nearly 60 other family members.
Agim Ramadani also known with nickname "KATANA", was an Albanian commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization that sought the independence of Kosovo from Serbia. He was killed in action during the Battle of Košare. After the war, he was declared Hero of Kosovo.
Numerous war crimes were committed by all sides during the Kosovo War, which lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. According to Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of abuses were attributable to the government of Slobodan Milošević, mainly perpetrated by the Serbian police, the Yugoslav army, and Serb paramilitary units. During the war, regime forces killed between 7,000–9,000 Kosovar Albanians, engaged in countless acts of rape, destroyed entire villages, and displaced nearly one million people. The Kosovo Liberation Army has also been implicated in atrocities, such as kidnappings and summary executions of civilians. Moreover, the NATO bombing campaign has been harshly criticized by human rights organizations and the Serbian government for causing roughly 500 civilian casualties.
Shaban Mustafë Kastrati, known as Shaban Polluzha, was a Kosovo Albanian military leader and Nazi collaborationist active in Drenica during World War II. He served in the Royal Albanian gendarmerie and as a commander of the Vulnetari militia. He was briefly a member of the Balli Kombëtar. He was killed by the Yugoslav Partisans.
Xhavit Haliti is a Kosovo-Albanian politician, philosopher, linguist and one of the founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) is a court of Kosovo, located in The Hague (Netherlands), hosting four Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutors Office, which may perform their activities either in the Netherlands or in Kosovo. The court is currently set up for delegating the trials of the crimes committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic-Albanian paramilitary organisation which sought the separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia during the 1990s and the eventual creation of a Greater Albania. The alleged crimes concern the period 1998–2000, during and at the end of the Kosovo war and directed afterwards against "ethnic minorities and political opponents". The court was formally established in 2016. It is separate from other Kosovar institutions, and independent. It is composed of a Specialist Prosecutor's Office and four Specialist Chambers, with themselves comprising Judges' Chambers and a Registry.
Rrustem Berisha is a Kosovar politician and military officer. He was Minister of Defense in Haradinaj cabinet. During the Yugoslav Wars, he fought in the Croatian War of Independence and the Kosovo War. He was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the Battle of Košare.
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