Ramush Haradinaj

Ramush Haradinaj (born 3 July 1968) is a Kosovo Albanian politician, leader of the AAK party, and the third prime minister of Kosovo.

Haradinaj was born on 3 July 1968, as the second of nine children, in the village of Glloxhan, near Deçan (Deçan), in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia.

His paternal descent is from Berishë in northern Albania, around the city of Pukë.

He spent his youth in his native village with his parents and siblings, and completed primary school in Rznić (Irzniq) and secondary school in Dečani and Gjakova.

After graduating from high school in 1987, he did his mandatory military service in the Yugoslav People's Army.

After the Kosovo War, Haradinaj attended law school at the University of Pristina.

Haradinaj also earned a master's degree in business from the American University in Kosovo, which is associated with the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.

In 1989, using a false name, Haradinaj emigrated to Leysin, Switzerland.

He worked there for eight years as a construction worker, security guard, and a bouncer in a nightclub.

As the Soviet Union dealt with new internal challenges, movements for independence began to form among many of the ethnicities of the Balkans and other states.

In Switzerland, Haradinaj joined the Albanian nationalist organization "People's Movement of Kosovo", from which the KLA originated; this organization wanted to separate Kosovo from Yugoslavia through armed struggle.

In 1996, he went through sabotage training in Albania, then participated in the establishment of KLA bases in Kukës and Tropojë.

According to media outlets, he organized the smuggle of arms into Kosovo; in one of those operations he was ambushed by border patrols, during which he was wounded and his brother Luan was killed.

Following the conflict, Haradinaj went into politics but soon resigned after becoming one of the KLA commanders charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with war crimes and crimes against humanity against Serbs, Romani and Albanians between March and September 1998 during the Kosovo War.

In 1998, Haradinaj returned to his hometown of Glođane (now Gllogjan) in Kosovo.

In February 1998, the conflict in Kosovo erupted.

According to the ICTY indictment against Fatmir Limaj, Haradin Bala and Isak Musliu, between 28 February and 5 March, Serb forces launched an offensive against KLA-held villages of Likošane, Cirez, and Prekaze.

Serbian special forces attacked three adjacent villages in Drenice.

In all, 83 Kosovar Albanians were killed.

Among the dead were elderly people and at least 24 women and children.

Many of the victims were shot at close range, which suggested summary executions; subsequent reports from eyewitnesses confirmed this.

The attacks on these three villages marked a turning point in the war; KLA membership increased as many Albanians began to fear that their village would be targeted next.

The next village targeted was Ramush Haradinaj's home village of Glodjane.

Less than three weeks after the attacks in Drenica, Serbian forces surrounded the village of Glodjane and mounted a similar attack.

The Haradinaj family, however, was aware of the previous attacks in Drenice and defended the village.

According to Haradinaj's own account, they utilized their superior knowledge of the terrain and local defenses to good effect and under the leadership of Haradinaj, they successfully repelled the attack.

This job was made more difficult because Serbian police forces captured a group of civilians and used them as human shields – marching the group in front of Serb soldiers as the forces took cover behind them and attempted to kill the Haradinajs.

During the firefight Ramush Haradinaj was seriously wounded after being shot in the hip by a Serbian policeman.

He survived by packing his wound with cheese he found in the room where he took cover.

During the firefight three young Kosovar Albanian boys under the age of 18 were killed by Serbian forces, which further galvanized the Albanian population to support the KLA.

After successfully repelling the Serbian attack, Haradinaj gained a leadership position in the KLA in Western Kosovo.

By May 1998 he was regarded as commander of Glodjane and surrounding villages, and by June 1998 he became commander of the Dukagjin Operational Zone (in Metohija).

Western Kosovo's proximity to Albania provided a corridor through which the KLA could procure weapons.

Haradinaj established himself as a commander during heavy fighting in his area.

He is a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and previously served as Prime Minister of Kosovo between 2004 and 2005.

Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Haradinaj was the KLA's commander for western Kosovo.

He was acquitted of all charges on 3 April 2008.

The prosecution appealed against the acquittal and argued that it was not given enough time to secure the testimony of two critical witnesses.

In 2010 the Appeals Chamber agreed and ordered a partial retrial in The Hague, Netherlands.

The re-trial took just over two years and on 29 November 2012, Haradinaj and his co-defendant were acquitted for a second time on all charges.