April 11, 2019, Prishtina – The Preparatory Team for the Establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission held the next consultation with former political prisoners.
The Public Consultation Panel was composed by Ardian Arifaj, Chairman, Baki Svirca and Abdullah Ferizi, Members of the Preparatory Team for the Establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, initially clarified the fundamental concepts of Transitional Justice, then the participants briefed on the experiences of others and also spoke about the President’s initiative for the Truth Commission in Kosovo, and why it is needed.
Given the emotional baggage and the traumatic experiences caused by the former Yugoslav system, the former political prisoners gave many opinions about the principles on which the commission for truth should be built.
Former political prisoner Hydajet Hyseni thinks that “the idea for the establishment of the commission is good, but care should be shown not to create misunderstandings, to measure the results of the commission, and not to equate the victim with the guilty one”.
Another participant stated that “reconciliation is good, desirable and necessary to move forward, but justice must be in the first place, and what we lack is justice reformation”.
Whereas, Neriman Braha proposed “to create photo exhibitions and to send them to every country of the world, presenting our truth and presenting it at international conferences. Not only the violations of individual human rights should be presented, but also the violations that have occurred towards our nation should be presented”.
In addition to the proposals about the period, the type of violations, there were many suggestions from the former political prisoners that were reasonable.