Dubovik, 17 January 2026
On the 44th anniversary of the killing of Jusuf and Bardhosh Gervalla and Kadri Zeka by agents of the notorious UDB, Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, together with the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani Sadriu, and the Speaker of the Assembly, Dimal Basha, paid tribute and laid fresh flowers at the graves of Jusuf and Bardhosh Gervalla in the village of Dubovik.
Prime Minister Kurti said that today we pay tribute, recalling how, even before the suppression of autonomy, throughout the entire time we had extraordinary patriots, steadfast activists, who gave their lives, sacrificing everything for the state and the freedom that we have and enjoy today.
“Even before the war, Albanians under Yugoslavia and Serbia had no peace, and proof of this are the many organised demonstrations, as well as former prisoners and political persecuted persons,” the Prime Minister said.
Jusuf and Bardhosh Gervalla and Kadri Zeka were killed less than a year after the demonstrations of 1981, at a time when numerous underground organisations of the period were coming together, and Yugoslavia and Serbia struck precisely Jusuf, Bardhosh and Kadri, at a time when organising for the Republic of Kosovo and for the liberation of our people was taking on ever greater proportions, he said among other things.
Jusuf Gervalla, the Prime Minister also said, besides being a patriot, was also a publicist, poet and writer, creator, journalist and intellectual, whose rich artistic activity was also cut short halfway. Therefore, with the killing of Jusuf, we have not lost only an activist and not only has the unification of the Albanian organisations of that time been delayed, but at the same time we have also lost an artistic and cultural activity, which was never fully unfolded because his life was cut short halfway.
Prime Minister Kurti emphasized that the progress and security that our state has today, the strengthening of the Albanian nation in general, not only in the Balkans, is evidence that our people in general have followed their path and that those acts of self-sacrifice and sacrifices have undoubtedly been well worth it.
Glory to Jusuf, Bardhosh, Kadri and all the martyrs of the Albanian nation!
Full statement by Prime Minister Kurti:
44 years ago, near Stuttgart, in the Federal Republic of Germany, agents of the notorious UDB killed the Gervalla brothers and Kadri Zeka.
Today we pay tribute, recalling how, even before the suppression of autonomy, throughout the entire time we had extraordinary patriots, steadfast activists, who gave their lives, sacrificing everything for the state and the freedom that we have and enjoy today.
Even before the war, Albanians under Yugoslavia and Serbia had no peace, and proof of this are the many organised demonstrations, as well as former prisoners and political persecuted persons.
Jusuf and Bardhosh Gervalla and Kadri Zeka were killed less than a year after the demonstrations of 1981, at a time when numerous underground organisations of the period were coming together, and Yugoslavia and Serbia struck precisely Jusuf, Bardhosh and Kadri, at a time when organising for the Republic of Kosovo and for the liberation of our people was taking on ever greater proportions.
Jusuf Gervalla, besides being a patriot, was also a publicist, poet and writer, creator, journalist and intellectual, whose rich artistic activity was also cut short halfway; therefore, with the killing of Jusuf, we have not lost only an activist and not only has the unification of the Albanian organisations of that time been delayed, but at the same time we have also lost an artistic and cultural activity, which was never fully unfolded because his life was cut short halfway.
However, the progress and security that our state has today, the strengthening of the Albanian nation in general, not only in the Balkans, is evidence that our people in general have followed their path and that those acts of self-sacrifice and sacrifices have undoubtedly been well worth it.
Glory to Jusuf, Bardhosh, Kadri and all the martyrs of the Albanian nation!
