Bajram Kelmendi (1937–1999) was an

ethnic Albanian The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

lawyer and human rights activist in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Life

He was born into an ethnic Albanian family near

Peja Peja or Peć, ), is the fifth most populous city in Kosovo and serves as the seat of the Peja Municipality and the District of Peja. It is located in the Rugova region on the eastern section of the Accursed Mountains along the Peja's Lumbar ...

, part of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

. His surname is derived from an ancestor hailing from the

Kelmend region Kelmendi is a historical Albanian tribe (''fis'') and region in Malësia ( Kelmend municipality) and eastern Montenegro (parts of Gusinje Municipality). It is located in the upper valley of the Cem river and its tributaries in the Accursed Mountai ...

in northwest

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. At the age of eighteen (in 1955), he was sentenced to one year in prison for criticizing the forced immigration of

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Later he studied law. Kelmendi was among the founders of Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms in

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

and on 3 May 1998 filed charges at the

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 in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

(

ICTY 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 tribun ...

) in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

against

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

for crimes committed in

. At the beginning for the bombing campaign of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

(NATO), on 24 March 1999, the Serbian police broke into his home and arrested him and his two sons, Kastriot and Kushtrim. When his wife Nekibe asked the policemen about their location, they responded by telling her "to ask NATO". The next day their bodies were found shot dead in a gas station near Prishtina.Amnesty International, PUBLIC STATEMENT
/ref> An eyewitness of the murder reported that Kelmendi before his death was asked to kill one of his sons and vice versa. As the orders of the policemen were refused they killed Kastriot and Kushtrim and about thirty seconds later Bajram Kelmendi. Before his death Kelmendi had defended many political prisoners as well as an Albanian-language newspaper closed by the Serbian police. After the war Nekibe Kelmendi (1944-2011) was elected a deputy of the

Democratic League of Kosovo The Democratic League of Kosovo (, LDK) is the oldest and one of the largest list of political parties in Kosovo, political parties in Kosovo. History During the late 1980s, nationalism was on the rise throughout the Socialist Federal Republi ...

and served as Minister of Justice of Kosovo from 2008 to 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelmendi, Bajram 1937 births 1999 deaths Kosovo Albanians Yugoslav lawyers People of the Kosovo War People from Peja Kosovan murder victims 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian lawyers

Life

See also

References