Ramush Haradinaj

Ramush Haradinaj (born 3 July 1968) is a Kosovo-Albanian politician, a former officer and leader of the paramilitary organization, the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK), and the former prime minister of the disputed Kosovo (2005). He leads the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) party. 

 

Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia and internal warfare, Haradinaj was among former UÇK officers charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with war crimes and crimes against humanity against Serbs, Roma and Albanians before and during the 1999 Kosovo War. He was acquitted of all charges on 3 April 2008. The prosecution appeal in 2010, based on intimidation of many witnesses, led to a partial retrial in The Hague, Netherlands. Throughout the full trial and appeal process, 19 potential witnesses died in mysterious circumstances. The international court found that many of the crimes described by the prosecution had taken place, but concluded that the prosecution had not provided sufficient "direct evidence" to prove Haradinaj′s participation.[6] On 29 November 2012, Haradinaj and his co-defendant were acquitted again on all charges, on lack of evidence.

From: www.wikipedia.org

Hashim Thaçi

Hashim Thaçi (born 24 April 1968) is the Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK), and former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

Early Life and Education

Hashim Thaçi was born in Srbica, in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, in what was then Yugoslavia. He studied philosophy and history at the University of Pristina. During his university years, he was an Albanian student leader and the first student president of the parallel Albanian University of Pristina that broke off in 1989 (and organized in the early 1990s) from the official University due to Kosovo Albanians' protest of Slobodan Milošević's new imposed status of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

By 1993, Hashim Thaçi joined the Albanian political émigré group in Switzerland, where he also pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Zurich in the departments of history and international relations. There he became one of the founders of the People's Movement of Kosovo (LPK).

Role in KLA

In 1993, Thaçi became a member of the inner circle of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Thaçi (nom de guerre "Gjarpëri" [The Snake]) was responsible for securing financial means and armaments, and training recruits in Albania to be dispatched to Kosovo.[citation needed] In 1997, Thaçi was tried in absentia and convicted by the Serbian authorities in Pristina for acts of terrorism associated with his activities in the KLA. In March 1999, Thaçi participated in the Rambouillet negotiations as the leader of the Kosovar Albanian team. Thaçi was perceived by western diplomats during the negotiations as the "voice of reason" within the KLA: his attendance at the negotiations demonstrated a willingness to accept autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia at a time when other rebel leaders rejected any solution short of full national independence. Thaçi emerged from the final diplomatic settlement as the leader of the strongest faction within a KLA rife with factionalism. He moved quickly to consolidate power, unilaterally naming himself prime minister within a provisional government and allegedly ordering the assassination of the leaders of rival armed factions.

From : www.wikipedia.org

Atifete Jahjaga

Atifete Jahjaga (born 20 April 1975) is the fourth and current President of Kosovo. She is the first female, the first non-partisan candidate, and the youngest to be elected to the office. She is also the first female head of state in modern Balkans. She previously served as the Deputy Director of the Kosovo Police, holding the rank of General Major the highest among women in Southeastern Europe.

Early Life and Education

Jahjaga was born in Đakovica where she attended primary and secondary school. She graduated from the University of Prishtina Faculty of Law in 2000. In 2006/07, she attended a graduate certificate program in police management and criminal law at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. She has also received extensive professional training at the George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies in Germany and the FBI National Academy in the United States.

Police career

After the Kosovo War, Jahjaga began working as an interpreter for the international police. Later on, she completed training to become an officer and gradually sought promotion to higher ranks, initially to major, then colonel, and finally general major. She was first deployed with the border police and then transferred to the training department.

Jahjaga held the position of deputy director of the Kosovo Police, and briefly filled in as acting general director in 2010. While serving as police officer, she drew the attention of American officers and diplomats who presented her before senior U.S. officials on special occasions. Her pictures with U.S. President George W. Bush during his visit to the FBI National Academy and with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to Kosovo were among the few distributed through the internet before she was placed on the national spotlight as a presidential candidate.

President of Kosovo

On 6 April 2011, she was announced as a consensual candidate for president of Kosovo by the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Democratic League of Kosovo and New Kosovo Alliance, and supported by the US Ambassador in Kosovo, Christopher Dell. Although she enjoyed a reputation as a police commander, she came out of relative obscurity as a candidate for the high office of the state[clarification needed], with most of the public and political leaders unaware of her political leanings.

On 7 April, she was elected President on the first round of voting by the Parliament; of 100 MPs present, 80 voted for Jahjaga and 10 cast a ballot for Suzan Novoberdali. To date, she is the only president to be elected on the first round of voting. Only Kosovo's 1st President Ibrahim Rugova has received more votes, being appointed by the Parliament by a 88-3 vote in 2002, in the third round and winning by a landslide in direct presidential elections in 1992 and 1998.

In her inaugural address, Jahjaga stated that one of her main goals as President is to secure Kosovo's membership in the European Union and the United Nations. "The ideal of all Kosovo is membership in the EU and a permanent friendship with the United States. I believe and I am convinced our dreams will come true," she said in her first speech to the Parliament.

Personal life

Atifete Jahjaga is married to Astrit Kuçi, a dentist, and has no children. Media reports have stressed that neither she nor her husband own real estate and that they rent a modest apartment in Pristina.

From : www.wikipedia.org