Mahmut Bakalli (19 January 1936 – 14 April 2006) was a Kosovar

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

politician. Bakalli began his political career in the youth organization of the League of Communists of Kosovo, eventually becoming its leader in 1961. In 1967, he became head of the party's Prishtina chapter. As he rose through the ranks, he was elected to the Central Committee of the party's Serbian chapter, and to the Presidium of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

's Central Committee. Bakalli led the Communist Party in Kosovo during the late 1970s and early 1980s, but resigned after disagreeing with the way the 1981 protests by ethnic Albanian students were handled by Kosovo's own police, headed by

Rahman Morina Rrahman Morina (; 1943 – 12 October 1990) was a Yugoslav police officer and communist politician. A Kosovo Albanian, he is remembered as being an opponent of Albanian separatism. Early career Morina had a career as an agent of the Ministry ...

. Bakalli then spent two years under house arrest, before being expelled from the party. He was after that allowed to work in the province's Science Association until retirement, but was forced out when

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

increased Serbian control over Kosovo in the late 1980s. He was a member of the Assembly of Kosovo from 2001. He also worked as an adviser to prime minister Agim Çeku. He graduated from the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Political Science. In 2002, Bakalli was the first witness to testify at The Hague

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

at the trial of Slobodan Milošević. He died of throat cancer at the age of 70. He had a wife and three daughters.

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External links

BBC report on Bakalli's testimony against Slobodan Milošević
in '' The Independent'' 1936 births 2006 deaths Politicians from Gjakova Deaths from esophageal cancer Deaths from cancer in Kosovo University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Science alumni League of Communists of Kosovo politicians Ex officio members of the Presidency of the 9th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Ex officio members of the Presidency of the 10th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Ex officio members of the Presidency of the 11th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Members of the Central Committee of the 10th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Members of the Central Committee of the 11th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Albanians {{Kosovo-politician-stub