The pain and anger are understandable, but the right answer is to return to the facts. The decision of The Hague for Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selim and Jakup Krasniqi, opens one of the most painful chapters of the post-war in Kosovo. Four important figures of the KLA received heavy sentences in a process that for years has been one of the most debatable issues of international justice for Kosovo. Thaçi and Krasniqi were sentenced to 25 years each, Veseli to 18 and Selimi to 13 years. But the consequences of this decision extend beyond the fate of the four convicts. It affects the memory of the war, Kosovar politics and the relationship of a part of society with international justice. Above all, it opens a new battle on the interpretation of Kosovo's history, in which the risk is that pain and anger will turn into political advantage for those who for years they try to present the Kosovo war only through the crimes committed during it. Of course, the emotional reaction is more understandable. We are talking about a war that took the lives of about 13 thousand Kosovo Albanians, left about 20 thousand women and girls survivors of sexual violence and caused incalculable material damage. It is a story of suffering that cannot be hidden or relativized. But this phase should not last forever. Therefore, the first advice in such a very delicate case is: let the anger be human, but the response must be rational. Albanians have the right to protest, oppose the decision and demand justice for the convicted. But the reaction must remain peaceful and measured. Instead of the emotional clash with international justice, we must return to the facts, documents and testimonies that show the entire history of the war. In the meantime, the appeal process must be awaited, which can change or revise this decision. The second advice is not to give Serbia a political victory that it has not won in the field of facts. Belgrade may try to use the verdict as evidence for the narrative that the Kosovo war was a criminal project. The Albanian response should not be propaganda, but the complete truth. Individual crimes must be dealt with by justice, while the context of the war, the victims, the deportations, the destruction and the crimes of the then Serbian regime cannot disappear from history. The Hague has given a verdict. But the legal process has not ended and the history of Kosovo does not end with a court decision. Now is the time for calm, dignity and facts. Let's not turn a heavy and absurd decision into a victory for Belgrade. checkered

Source: prizrenpost