Haradin Bala

Haradin Bala (10 June 1957 – 31 January 2018), also known as Shala, was a Kosovo Albanian former commander of the Albanian militant organization Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, or UÇK in Albanian).

He was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Serbs and moderate Albanians by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. His trial ended on 30 November 2005 and he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment, particularly for crimes at the Lapušnik prison camp between May and July 1998 and executing orders to kill Serb civilians in the Berisha Mountains on 25 July 1998, after the fall of Lapušnik as a result of the Serbian Army advances in Kosovo.[1]

Bala died on 31 January 2018.[2] The following day, a minute of silence was held in Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo to mark his death. The minute of silence was proposed by the deputy Milaim Zeka of the Social Democratic Initiative. "All people in the world honour their values, their people, their heroes," Zeka remarked. "Last night, a great man passed away, a man that has made a great contribution to this country, this nation, and thanks to him, we are sitting here now in the parliament of Kosovo.[3]

References
  1. Profile, ICTY.org; accessed 24 May 2015.
  2. Isufi, Perparim (31 January 2018). "Kosovo's Only Hague Tribunal Convict Dies". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  3. Isufi, Perparim (9 February 2018). "Kosovo, Serbia Criticised for Honouring War Crimes Convicts". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 22 November 2019.

Notes
a.   ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008. Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 98 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 113 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition.


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