2004 Unrest in Kosovo - Reactions By Kosovo Albanian Politicians

Reactions By Kosovo Albanian Politicians

Kosovo Albanian politicians such as President Ibrahim Rugova and Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi joined UN governor Harri Holkeri, NATO southern commander Gregory Johnson, and other KFOR officials in condemning the violence and appealing for peace in Kosovo (B92).

Hashim Thaçi, the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leader, "rejected ethnic division of Kosovo and said independence is a pre-condition for stability in the region." (VOA). He has also said, "Kosovo, NATO and the West have not fought for Kosovo only for Albanians, nor for a Kosovo ruled by violence... Violence is not the way to solve problems, violence only creates problems." (B92)

Kosovo Police established a special investigation team to handle cases related to the 2004 unrest and according to Kosovo Judicial Council by the end of 2006 the 326 charges filed by municipal and district prosecutors for criminal offenses in connection with the unrest had resulted in 200 indictments: convictions in 134 cases, and courts acquitted eight and dismissed 28; 30 cases were pending. International prosecutors and judges handled the most sensitive cases. By March 2010, 143 Kosovars of Albanian ethnicity were convicted, of which 67 received prison terms of over a year.

Read more about this topic:  2004 Unrest In Kosovo

Famous quotes containing the words reactions and/or politicians:

    In this Journal, my pen is a delicate needle point, tracing out a graph of temperament so as to show its daily fluctuations: grave and gay, up and down, lamentation and revelry, self-love and self-disgust. You get here all my thoughts and opinions, always irresponsible and often contradictory or mutually exclusive, all my moods and vapours, all the varying reactions to environment of this jelly which is I.
    W.N.P. Barbellion (1889–1919)

    [I support] term limits for career politicians and the death penalty for career politicians.
    William Frist (b. 1952)