The Organization of Kosova Liberation Army War Veterans has called a public protest in Prishtina today following the Hague ruling against four former KLA leaders. The protest will begin at noon in Prishtina’s Skanderbeg Square, and the organization says it will remain peaceful.

Gazmend Syla of the organization announced the protest a day earlier following a meeting of its Steering Council. He said participants would protest without masks and with their faces uncovered. The organization opposes the ruling against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, which it describes as unjust.

According to Syla, the ruling has attempted to create a balance between the KLA war and events during the 1998-1999 war. He said the organization considers the KLA a resistance movement against what he described as expulsions and massacres, rather than a criminal enterprise.

Meanwhile, war veterans’ organizations have announced plans to establish a national coordinating council and a platform to oppose the ruling until the appeals process ends. Syla said the initiative aims to involve Kosova’s institutions, parliamentary parties, civil society, Albania, Albanians in North Macedonia and the Presheva Valley, as well as the diaspora.

/a.p./