Prishtina, 10 November 2025
Today, the Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, visited the Institute for Crimes Committed during the War in Kosovo (ICCW), where he was welcomed by Executive Director Atdhe Hetemi, on the occasion of the presentation of the Institute’s annual work report.
During the visit, Prime Minister Kurti was briefed by Director Hetemi on the achievements and progress made in documenting, archiving, and conducting scientific research on crimes committed during the war in Kosovo.
Director Hetemi emphasized that during the 2024–2025 period, the ICCW has taken important steps toward institutional and professional consolidation, strengthened its legal and methodological foundation, and significantly expanded its archival collection, which now contains over 400 linear meters of hard copy material and 20.6 terabytes of digital data, collected from more than 650 different sources across 14 countries. Among other highlights, he mentioned the development of the war victims’ database, the launch of the three-year project “Memory of the Massacres in Kosovo”, and the organization of the Institute’s first international conference, which brought together over 200 researchers from universities and institutes such as New York University, Westminster
University, Dublin City University, and others.
Prime Minister Kurti thanked Mr. Hetemi and his staff for their daily work and hospitality. He recalled that during his visit last year, the Institute had 23 employees, while the number has now grown to 39, along with a considerable increase in archival material. He noted that the Institute’s two-year anniversary finds it with six regional offices—in Peja, Gjakova, Prizren, Ferizaj, Gjilan, and Mitrovica—and stressed the importance of the ICCW both for the institutionalization of collective memory and for the full uncovering of historical truth.
The ICCW has become a central institutional hub for gathering and providing information and data, particularly for security and justice institutions, thus contributing to the enhancement of investigations and the prosecution of Serbian criminals responsible for killings, rapes, torture, and massacres in Kosovo.
“Here you can find the archive of Serbia’s genocides, the vast documentation of ethnic cleansing, the systematic violations of human rights, and also the consequences and losses suffered by our people from the long Serbian occupation—especially from the last war, where the damages were not only human, but also economic and cultural,” said Prime Minister Kurti in his statement to the media at the conclusion of the visit.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Institute for War Crimes Committed in Kosovo, Atdhe Hetemi, thanked Prime Minister Kurti and the Government of the Republic of Kosovo for their support to the Institute, by addressing its requests with priority and in the proper manner. He also expressed gratitude to the media for their role and commitment in documenting war crimes, emphasizing that they remain one of the Institute’s most important partners.
The Institute for War Crimes Committed in Kosovo is one of the main state pillars for preserving historical memory, documenting crimes, and building transitional justice in the Republic of Kosovo.
