KLA Flags Pass Through Gracanica Ahead of Taci Verdict

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague are due to hand down a first instance verdict tomorrow, September 16, at 10 a.m., against Hasim Taci, Kadri Veselji, Jakup Krasnici and Redzep Seljimi. The four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) stand accused of murder, torture, inhumane treatment, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, cruel treatment and persecution. Ahead of the ruling, Serbs in Gracanica and other Kosovo communities describe fear and uncertainty, and the reason is not only the verdict itself but what happened on Saturday.

That day in Pristina, at what was billed as the Freedom March, several tens of thousands of people gathered in support of the four defendants. On the same day, vehicles carrying KLA and Greater Albania flags, with portraits of the accused leaders displayed on them, drove through Gracanica and other Serb communities. Silvana Marinkovic, coordinator of the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Serbs from Kosovo, Petar Djordjevic of the non-governmental organization Young and Active Gracanica, and historian Aleksandar Gudzic spoke about it to Radio KiM.

”Justice Will Not Be Served Here”

Marinkovic believes the court’s decision will be more political than just, and that the indictment, although it formally covers crimes against Serbs as well, deals overwhelmingly with crimes against the Albanian population.

“Politics is deeply involved here, and they have their own political reasons for wanting to conceal these crimes, especially the crimes against the Serb population. Because if they were convicted, that would be proof that Serbs are victims, and that is not in their interest. It is not in their interest because they want to present the KLA as a liberation army, and I do not think politics allows for that. My opinion is that justice will not be served here. But an even greater injustice is that the indictment covers far more crimes against the Albanian population. Very few concern Serbs,” Marinkovic told Radio KiM.

The association’s coordinator also described what happened in Gracanica itself before Saturday’s rally in Pristina.

“I had the chance on Saturday to pass through Gracanica before their protest began, where they drove through Gracanica with KLA flags hung on every car, driving through and provoking. Thank God our people here paid no attention to it, and just passed by as if they hadn’t seen it,” Marinkovic told Radio KiM.

Fear in Communities Where Few Serbs Remain

Petar Djordjevic of Young and Active Gracanica describes a similar mood, with an emphasis on the communities where the fewest Serbs remain.

“There is noticeable fear and uncertainty, especially in Serb communities, and it is most noticeable, perhaps, in the Serb communities where few Serbs are left. I think they are the most afraid, but even here in Gracanica, I think that dose of fear is felt, especially after statements that there is a real danger of various incidents,” Djordjevic told Radio KiM.

He also warns of a narrative that, in his words, has spread quickly through Albanian society, that a verdict against four individuals would amount to a verdict against an entire people.

“It seems a narrative has taken hold quickly, that tomorrow’s potential verdict against four individuals could somehow become a verdict against an entire people. I think that has unfortunately spread through Albanian society, and there is a fair amount of extremism present among some Albanians. Still, I hope that reason will ultimately prevail and that there won’t be any major incidents,” Djordjevic said.

A Parallel With March 2004

Historian Aleksandar Gudzic compares the atmosphere ahead of tomorrow’s verdict to the mood before the violence of March 2004, when trials against KLA members were also being announced at the time.

“Ahead of March 17, there were also protests held in Pristina over a possible trial of KLA members. The international community and the Hague Tribunal had announced, sometime in early 2004, a trial against KLA members. What happened on March 17, 2004? The largest ethnically motivated violence since the war took place. For some time afterward, the international community and the Hague Tribunal backed off from indicting former KLA members. So practice has shown that violence pays off for the political elites of Kosovo Albanians,” Gudzic told Radio KiM.

Gudzic adds that Kosovo statehood and regional identity have for years been built on a narrative of exclusive Serb guilt and exclusive Albanian victimhood, one that a guilty verdict would now contradict.

“Kosovo’s political elites built Kosovo statehood, and if you will, the regional Kosovo identity, on the heroic struggle of the Kosovo Liberation Army, on exclusive Serb guilt and exclusively Albanian victimhood. A guilty verdict would run counter to that narrative, and if you will, to the media discourse in Kosovo over recent decades,” Gudzic said.

Increased Security Presence

Both domestic and international security institutions have announced an increased presence for September 16, primarily in Pristina, where the largest gathering is expected, but also in ethnically mixed communities and around international institutions and courts. Srpske Vesti reported on Sunday that several tens of thousands of people gathered at Saturday’s support rally in Pristina.

For the Serb community in Kosovo, the verdict due from The Hague tomorrow at 10 a.m. carries a double weight. On one hand is the question of whether anyone will be held accountable at all for the crimes listed in the indictment, and on the other is what reaction that decision, whether a conviction or an acquittal, might provoke in the communities the KLA flag convoys drove through.