Period: Yugoslav Wars

Region: Kosovo and Metohia

The Albanian criminal Adem Jashari (1955-1998)

Adem Jashari (1955-1998) was an Albanian criminal and terrorist in Kosovo and Metohija, one of the founders of the Occupying Army of Kosovo, involved in numerous crimes such as arms smuggling, murder, robbery, drug dealing, the white slave trade, and other.

For more than 15 years, he was engaged in separatist activities in Kosovo and Metohija, intent on expanding Albania into previously occupied territories. 

He enjoyed a great reputation among Kosmet Albanians even before the conflict. He often went with his brothers and neighbors to the Republic of Albania, where he trained in terrorist camps, under the supervision of former American officers.

A monument to him was erected in the center of Priština, after the arrival of UNMIK and KFOR forces, and later in the center of Tirana. Although he engaged in criminal activities, among his compatriots he was perceived as a "national hero", while he was portrayed in the Western media as a "freedom fighter".

BIOGRAPHY

Adem Jashari, son of Shaban (his father) and Zahida (his mother) was born in the village of Donje Perkaze on November 28, 1955, in the municipality of Srbica, 60 km west of Priština. This area has been known for decades as the center of Albanian chauvinism and terrorism. His father was a teacher.

Adem finished primary school in the village of Perkaze, and secondary technical school in Srbica. Together with his older brother Hamez, he joined illegal Albanian organizations aimed at separating Kosovo and Metohija and annexing them to the hypothetical territory of Greater Albania, and from 1975 to 1990 he was in constant conflict with the SFRY police and prosecutor's office due to his irredentist activities. He took an active part in the 1981 demonstrations organized by Albanians in Priština.

He married Adila Rama, from the vicinity of Vučitrn, with whom he has five children: Lulzimi, Fitimi, Kushtrimi, Shkipja, and Marigona.

Adem's father and cousin with a weapon

IREDENTISM AND TERRORISM

Since 1990, he crossed the border illegally several times and went to the Republic of Albania, where he attends military sabotage courses and participates in organizing illegal armed formations that will later grow into a single terrorist organization called the Occupying Army of Kosovo (KLA). Albania.

Together with his brothers Hamza and Murat, and the Kodre brothers, he went to the Republic of Albania on 3 November 1991, for training with the intention of creating a base for a future separatist army in Kosovo. The State Security Service of the Republic of Serbia tried to arrest him on 30 December 1991, but the group resisted and managed to escape.

Irredentism in action: Albanians seek independence.

From 1992-1997, in the area of Kosmet, Jashari's group was the initiator and main perpetrator of terrorist actions, against the police and state administrative bodies, as well as wealthy Serbs.

The first major synchronized action was organized on 22 April 1996, when five people were killed and five others wounded in attacks in Peć, Štimlje, Dečani, on the Rožaje-Priština road near Kosovska Mitrovica.

INDICTMENT AND JUDGMENT

At first, they attacked from ambushes as bandits would do, or launched projectiles from a distance. Over time, they used more modern forms of terrorism. Therefore, Adem Jashari, Iljaz Kodra, Sahit Jashari, Fadilj Kodra, Jakup Nura, Zenan Kodra, and Rexjep Selimi were sentenced to 20 years in prison each in the District Court in Priština, and Hashim Thaci was also sentenced to 10 years.

Jashari's group continued its terrorist activities, and a larger conflict with the Serbian police took place on 22 and 23 January 1998. At that time, a terrorist group of eight Albanians stopped vehicles on the road Srbica - Drenica and attacked passengers of Serbian nationality.

A police patrol arrived on the scene and, after a firefight, started chasing the terrorists, including Adem Jashari. The group fled to the village of Donje Prekaze, and Serbian police arrived in the village and called upon them to surrender. The police shot at all their houses and the terrorist group managed to get out of the village. After the conflict, Serbian police reported that Adem Jashari was wounded in the clashes.

Adem Jashari refused and offered strong resistance in a well-equipped and prepared barricaded bunker reinforced with sandbags.

PURSUIT AND DEATH

On 5 March 1998, special police forces of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior surrounded his home village of Donje Prekaze and formed a wider perimeter around other villages, calling on Adem Jashari to surrender.

Seized weapons from Adem's group

Adem Jashari refused and offered strong resistance in a well-equipped and prepared barricaded bunker reinforced with sandbags.

After strong resistance in a battle in which 36 terrorists were killed (among them his older brother) and 30 family members who did not want to leave the bunker and 2 members of the police, Adem Jashari's group was liquidated.

During the action, Adem Jashari and his group showed their fanatical nature. Brutally ordering his relatives to fight, Jashari personally killed his own nephew for "cowardice" and then created a human shield using the women and children in hopes of gaining time until reinforcements arrived, as he expected the entire Albanian population from the Drenica zone to be ready to help him.

He was killed on 7 March 1998.

LEGACY

A large monument has been erected in the center of Priština, and a bust of Adem Jashari has been erected in the central area of Tirana, also in Dragash, Srbica, and elsewhere. Among Kosmet Albanians, he is known as a great freedom fighter and compared to Skenderbeg, a rebel commander from the 15th century.

In his native village of Perkaze, a large memorial complex is being built.

On the tenth anniversary of his death, in Tirana and throughout the occupied territory of Kosovo and Metohija, ceremonies were organized in his honor.

In Priština, at the beginning of March 2008, a large event dedicated to him was organized at the city stadium, where tens of thousands of Albanians from all over Kosmet came, along with guests from the Republic of Albania. The biggest pop stars of occupied Kosmet were also present.