OBITUARY: Symbol of Kosovan resistance Adem Demaci dies at 82

OBITUARY: Symbol of Kosovan resistance Adem Demaci dies at 82
/ Kosovan government
By bne IntelliNews July 29, 2018

Kosovan political activist and human rights defender Adem Demaci, known as Kosovo’s Mandela, died at the age of 82 on July 26, and was buried two days later.

Demaci was known for his resistance to the former Yugoslavia’s communist regime and Serb rule in Kosovo.

The parliament halted its session after the deputy parliament speaker Xhavit Haliti announced the death of Demaci and MPs held a moment of silence.

According to an official from a Pristina hospital, Adem Demaci died of natural causes.

Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci ordered three days of official mourning for Demaci, saying funeral would be with "the highest state honours".

“It is difficult to accept that our symbol of resistance has died. He was always unstoppable and unbending in the face of every challenge,” Thaci said in Facebook post.

Demaci was buried in Pristina's cemetery of martyrs on July 28 in a state funeral attended by high officials from Kosovo and Albania.

Kosovan Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who attended the commemorative ceremony, said that Demaci was a patriot who fought for freedom and full rights for Kosovo.

Demaci was arrested three times and spent a total of 28 years in prison for resisting the communist regime under the former Yugoslavia, and then against Serbian rule over Kosovo after ex-Yugoslavia fell apart.

Demaci was first known as a writer. Then he was head of the political wing of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), during the 1998-1999 war ended after Nato launched a bombing campaign against Serbia to halt its military forces' operations in Kosovo.

He remained in Pristina during the Kosovo war, and was critical of Ibrahim Rugova, the first president of Kosovo, and other leaders who fled Kosovo during the conflict.

Following the war, Demaci served as director of Kosovo Radio and Television until January 2004. He remained active in politics, affiliated with Albin Kurti, head of the Vetevendosje nationalist movement, which is now in opposition.

Demaci was winner of the European Parliament’s Andrei Sakharov Prize for his human rights work in 1991.

Kosovan government plans to erect a statue in honour of Demaci in Pristina, and to name both the Pristina-Peja motorway, which is under construction, and a district of Pristina after him. 

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but it is still not recognised by Belgrade. EU-mediated talks on the normalisation of Belgrade-Pristina relations are underway, but without great progress.

Recently, Serbian media reported that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had raised the idea of an exchange of territory with Kosovo, but Kosovo’s politicians, many of whom fought with the KLA in the guerrilla war for independence, are unlikely to support the plan.

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