Gani Thaçi, the brother of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, has spoken about the emotional toll his family has endured during the detention of the four former KLA leaders in The Hague.
He said the arrests of Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi were extremely difficult for their families, describing the four men as individuals who made significant sacrifices during Kosovo’s struggle for liberation.
Speaking about the family’s experience, Gani Thaçi also recalled the death of their father, saying that while his passing was deeply painful, the fact that Hashim Thaçi was not allowed to attend the funeral was even more difficult for the family.
“The experience has been very difficult for the family. We never imagined that one or several men who led the war and sacrificed so much for liberation would end up imprisoned. It has been hard for my brother, as well as for Jakup, Rexhep and Kadri. These are men like whom it is difficult to imagine others being born again,” he said.
He went on to recall the circumstances surrounding their father’s final days and Hashim Thaçi’s last visit to him.
“Then came our father’s death. As painful as his passing was, what hurt us even more was that Hashim was not allowed to attend the funeral. He had seen him alive just three days earlier. Our father was still taking the essential medication he needed until the day Hashim visited him. After Hashim left, he said he no longer wanted those medicines,” Gani Thaçi recalled.
He added that the family continues to wait for the verdict with hope that all four former KLA leaders will be released.
“Our mother is waiting, and we are all waiting. God willing, they will all be released. Only then will we feel that Kosovo’s liberation is truly complete. We thought we had been liberated, but nowhere in the world has it happened that those who fought for liberation are then taken away. We did not fight an unjust war; we fought a just one,” he said.
