Adem Demaçi

Adem Demaçi (Serbo-Croat: "Адем Демаћи" or "Adem Demaći") (Born February 26, 1936 in Priština, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is a Kosovo Albanian writer and politician and a longtime political prisoner who spent a total of 28 years in prison for speaking out against the poor treatment of the Albanian minority in Yugoslavia as well as criticizing communism and the regime of Josip Broz Tito. During his imprisonment, he was recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

Demaci was first imprisoned 1958-1961. After his release, he served two more prison terms 1964-1974 and 1975-1990. In each case he was arrested for separatism, but also as a Stalinist.

After his release, he was a Chairman of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms of the People of Kosovo. He received the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize in 1992. Nominated for Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993. Winner of Peace Prize of Rectors of Europe from Complutense University-Madrid in 1994. He was a guest during a session of the United States House of Representatives in March 1992.

Adem Demaçi was political representative of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during 1998/1999. He stayed in Kosovo during the entire Kosovo War. Though Serbian soldiers knew who he was, they did not harm him. The most likely reason for this was his notoriety and his status as a victim of communist oppression. To this day, he is involved in Kosovo politics and continues to advocate Kosovo's independence from Serbia, even criticising KLA leaders for accepting a peace settlement with Serbia that did not grant independence for Kosovo.

References