TIRANA, Oct  12 /ATA/ – By Maela Marini/ Prime Minister Edi Rama called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Wednesday to drop the accusations against Kosovo.

“I ask you to accept Albania’s request for the adoption of a resolution calling for a follow-up report on the unproven, shameful charges of organ trafficking against the members of the heroic Kosovo Liberation Army, a crime that has never been committed and as such should  have never been attributed to them,” the Prime Minister said.

Adopting this resolution, Rama continued, is neither for the sake of Kosovo nor for the sake of Albania, it is a matter of your honor and credibility.

“The world is bad enough as it is. Human rights are at risk everywhere. It takes warriors to fight for them, but there can be no warriors if there is no faith and it’s all about faith,” he said.

“I understand the issue of symmetry, I understand the importance of impartiality, I understand the need to investigate. It is in the nature of institutions like this, too, that things take time and in-depth investigation must be conducted before a decision is made in each case, but there comes a point when delays, reluctance, maneuvers lose their necessary administrative character and take on a second meaning, an understanding that leads precisely to the humiliation of those whom the international community is supposed to serve. This harms the international community itself, not because it can no longer continue doing what it has always done, but because trust in international system has been broken,” said Rama.

He said that “when the world turns upside down and the victim becomes a criminal, anything is possible.”

“The difference between the right and wrongdoing, truth and lies wanes, and the moment this difference disappears, we are back in the space of arbitrary power, and the first victim of this travesty is you. Yes, all of you, it is the international community itself,” he added.

“A cruel, fake news managed to turn into a report that was transformed into a resolution, an admirable effort, in fact, to serve truth and justice with so many people who were misled and who , finally, undermined both, truth and justice,” added Rama.

“Your actions a decade ago have caused in good faith one of the most monumental failures of international politics, an outrageous travesty of human rights and human dignity watch, precisely by acting to uphold them both. I am not here to blame your predecessors, not at all. I am here for you, women and men, whom I can see in the eyes, whom I connect with the European conscience of justice, the Council of Europe, the world excellence of the protection of human rights; I am here to tell you that as a result of the previous decision of this Council, of this Assembly, the world of justice was turned upside down, the victims of heinous war crimes turned into criminals,” the Prime Minister said.

According to him, “the quest for truth turned into a perpetual repetition of lies, young men, a warrior turned into a head of a mafia gang, an elected leader who built peace turned into a war criminal, the heroic war of ordinary people who rallied around the flag of their liberation army turned into a horrific story of organ trafficking, a country’s quest for dignity was trampled upon by shameful allegations of mass atrocities. Those who were saved by humanitarian interventions were accused of the most inhumane crimes.”

Rama said that “this is how international justice was overshadowed once again by international hypocrisy.”

“Try to imagine President Zelensky 10 years later, becoming part of something as surreal as President Thaçi today. Because the Kremlin and Moscow have already started to say that there is activity of human organ trafficking unfolding by neo-Nazis in Donbas. So be prepared for that,” said Rama.

Rama said that “what brought me here is not the concern for Kosovo’s democracy, that despite its young age, despite the current crisis, it will succeed,  it will fare well.”

“It is the strong faith of Albanians in institutions like this that has been shaken by your decision, by that decision. When the truth of an entire nation is distorted in such a daunting way, the only prayer that comes to us is: “For God’s sake, do not let your previous tragic mistakes become your unforgivable sin,” he emphasized.

“I’m here for you, I’m here for all of us. I am here as a European, in the European temple of faith, of international human rights, and just as St. Anthony ended up preaching to the fish because people had lost faith, I do hope that tragic mistakes like this one that this Assembly has made with the liberators, will not turn us all into heretics. I am here to plead with you to save the face of human rights in Europe, to protect your integrity, to testify to all oppressed people in the world and all victims of human rights violations, that they can resist without fear that their legitimate resistance will one day become a crime, that the victims will not be accused of being criminals, that the international community will not come to their aid only to turn their backs again later, that it will not degrade and humiliate with such terrible accusations those people whose dignity was supposed to preserve,” he added. /j.p/sm/