Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj has issued a statement from prison regarding Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, announcing that he will propose granting them honorary citizenship of the Albanian capital.
Veliaj said he was deeply affected by the decision handed down in The Hague, while stressing that the legal process must continue through the appropriate judicial procedures and standards.
“The decision issued in The Hague regarding Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi has deeply shaken me. Of course, the legal process has its own course, and justice must follow its procedures and standards to the end. But we Albanians also have a responsibility to remember,” he wrote.
Veliaj said he wants Tirana to formally recognize what he described as the four men’s historical contribution to Kosovo’s path toward freedom and statehood.
“Today, I want Tirana to speak. Tirana is not only the capital of the Republic of Albania, but also a major center for Albanians. For this reason, in my capacity as Mayor of Tirana, I will propose to the Municipal Council that Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi be declared Honorary Citizens of Tirana,” he said.
In his lengthy statement, Veliaj reflected on Kosovo’s history, including decades of repression, displacement, loss of life and resistance. He also praised the role of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the four former KLA leaders.
Veliaj emphasized that his proposal was not intended to interfere with the judicial process or tell the court what decision it should make.
“This is not about replacing justice with politics. It is not about telling a court what it should decide. It is about exercising our city’s right to express its gratitude and recognition for their historical contribution to Kosovo’s journey toward freedom and statehood,” he wrote.
“Tirana unfortunately cannot give them their freedom. But Tirana should honor them,” Veliaj added.
He also called on mayors and municipal councils in other Albanian cities to consider similar initiatives, arguing that the four men are part not only of Kosovo’s history but of the broader history of Albanians.
Veliaj, who said he has now spent 19 months in detention, concluded his statement with a reflection on freedom.
“I may be behind a closed door today, but it is precisely here that I have come to understand something very simple even better: freedom is one of those words whose full weight you understand even more deeply when you do not have it,” he wrote.
He said Kosovo’s history serves as a reminder that freedom must continue to be protected, remembered and honored.
