Amnesty for hate

In addition to the two people arrested this month for hate speech on national or religious grounds, three indictments were filed in April and May. And the verdicts so far indicate lenient sentences. In four years, only two sentences have been handed down with effective imprisonment. Communication and security experts say hate speech is emerging on a large scale, especially in online spaces.

During April and May of this year alone, the Special Prosecution Office filed three indictments for inciting division and intolerance. One was filed against a teacher in the capital who threw away the Albanian national flag that a student was carrying for the November 28 holiday, an act that the prosecution said was done because of religious beliefs. Another was filed against an Albanian who tore pages of the Quran in the center of Prizren. Meanwhile, the third indictment was filed against a Serb from the north, for wearing a T-shirt with the inscription "we will not give up the land of Tsar Dushan", with a map of Kosovo on it.

And, on May 22, two people were arrested, one in Fushë-Kosovo and the other in Malisheva, on suspicion of spreading hatred between religious communities living in Kosovo through social networks.

Alban Zeneli is a professor of Journalism at the University of Pristina, and says that the spread of hate speech has reached enormous proportions, especially in online spaces.

"Paradoxically, the hate speech we see online has almost become normalized. It has almost become common for there to be hate speech in online media and it is also much more difficult to prove by a prosecutor or by the prosecution who would accuse someone of hate speech. Physical evidence, i.e. printed or in other forms, is more easily available to the justice system and more easily arguable. I believe this should be the explanation for why there are more court cases that are tried "offline" than for language used on online platforms," ​​Zeneli emphasized.

Of the 14 judgments announced since 2021, which are accessible, three are for hatred incited through social media.

For such comments against the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, which were published on Facebook, one defendant was sentenced in Pristina to a year of suspended imprisonment. Meanwhile, another in Peja was sentenced to six months of suspended imprisonment, for hateful comments against Bosniaks.

A Serbian citizen was also sentenced to five months in prison for a video he posted on TikTok, in which he insulted Albanians and called them "terrorists."

"Many citizens of Kosovo are not exactly clear that the comments they make on TikTok or Facebook are comments that are equivalent to public speech, so you did not write it on your Facebook or at the moment you wrote it on your profile and made that comment public, you exercised the right to public speech which comes with the responsibility of public speech which means not inciting, not spreading hate speech, not threatening...", said Zeneli.

Prosecutors have concluded cases relatively easily, as the defendants have pleaded guilty in eight out of the 14 cases analyzed by KOHA.

An Albanian from Peja was sentenced to two years of suspended imprisonment for writing the graffiti "KLA-Kosovo" on the wall of a Serb's house in Gorazhdec, an Albanian from Gjakova was sentenced to 1000 euros in fine for burning the Serbian flag at a football match, and an Albanian who threw the Turkish flag he had removed from a pole near the Municipal Assembly into the river in Prizren was given a suspended fine of 1000 euros. And in 2021, the Court in Gjakova sentenced a defendant for a book filled with hate speech against mosques, churches, tekkes, and Turks. The book was also confiscated.

Meanwhile, a persistent problem for Serbs has been the way they celebrate Vidovdan - a day that is also linked to the myth of the Battle of Kosovo, which is celebrated in Gazimestan, on the outskirts of Pristina. There, the police have repeatedly forced pilgrims to remove their T-shirts with inscriptions that convey messages of hatred against Albanians.

In 2022, a Serbian citizen was sentenced to eight months in prison by the Basic Court in Pristina for holding Serbian flags with a map of Kosovo, with the inscription "no surrender" and then shouting "kill, kill the Albanian!". Meanwhile, in 2021, another Serbian citizen was sentenced to 6700 euros after making hateful calls in Gazimestan "We will wash Kosovo with blood" and "Kosovo is Serbia". This fine was credited to him after he considered part of his sentence to have been served, because he spent 24 days in detention.

Of the 14 verdicts analyzed by KOHA, only two sentences are effective imprisonment. In one, a Serb was sentenced to 8 months in prison for the calls in Vidovdan, and in the other, a Serbian citizen was sentenced to 5 months in prison for the anti-Albanian calls he distributed on TikTok. For foreign citizens, the Court in Pristina has also imposed deportation as an additional measure, as well as a ban on entering Kosovo for 1 to 5 years.

The Basic Court in Gjilan sentenced a Serb from Kllokot more leniently last year, who also admitted to placing a Serbian flag with a map of Kosovo and the words "no surrender" in the village church.

And, the advisor to the Minister of Health, Egzon Azemi, was sentenced to six months in prison in the first instance after the criminal offense of "inciting hatred and intolerance" was reclassified as "threatening", while Edi Zenelaj was found guilty of "inciting discord and intolerance", after the criminal offense against him was reclassified from "threatening".

Azemi had shared the quote "traitors deserve the bullet", when Dejan Pantic, now accused of a terrorist attack, had his security measure changed from detention to house arrest. Meanwhile, Zenelaj was accused of making graffiti with the names of judge Mentor Bajraktari and prosecutor Afrim Shefkiu, in which they were described as "pillars of shame". The case against both has been appealed to the Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, KLA veteran Emin Lati was fined 600 euros after, alluding to Mimoza Kusari-Lila, he said in an interview that the politician should be dragged. He was convicted of intimidation, as the prosecution withdrew the charge of inciting discord.

The Supreme Court's verdict in 2023 on former Serbian List MP and minister Ivan Todosijevic sparked a lot of reactions. He had denied the Recak massacre, but the highest court acquitted him for two reasons. According to the Supreme Court, he exercised his freedom of expression when he denied the Recak massacre and said that "Albanian terrorists" committed most of the war crimes in Kosovo, and that the possibility of disrupting public order through these statements was not argued, since Todosijevic gave a speech at a rally in Zvecan.

A similar argument was used by the Basic Court in Pristina in 2024 when it decided to acquit Albanian citizens Niko Blazhde, known in public as Father Nikolla Xhufka, and his associate, Lejdi Zagalli. The court found that public order was not disturbed after Blazhde entered the Church of the Archangel Michael in Rakinica, Podujevo, and pronounced a curse on the Serbian Orthodox Church, calling it a violent church.

Violence as a product of incitement to hatred

Retired judge Musa Konxheli presided over the panel that convicted former ISIS member Zekirja Qazim of inciting discord, as well as former minister Ivan Todosijevic of inciting hatred. In Qazim's case, he says that it was enough to prove one sentence.

"His statement, which was considered to have violated the law, was 'the blood of infidels (non-believers) is the best drink for us Muslims' and the prosecution alluded to and claimed, but it was also proven in court and the defendant at the time did not dispute that he said those words, but said that he quoted Quranic sayings, that he did not invent anything of his own, and he was convicted and tried and even served time in prison," stated lawyer Kongjeli.

Konxheli says that the Supreme Court's verdict on Todosijević, which overturned the sentence imposed, is still meaningless to him as a professional. According to him, the standard required by the Supreme Court to prove incitement to discord is high.

"It is not foreseen that this condition must be met in order to cause violence according to the paragraph and I also consider that it is not an essential condition (for example vj) if a police officer incites hatred towards an ethnicity or other cases that it must necessarily lead to protests and riots because that would be very difficult and almost in no case would all these elements be fully met... If this standard is set, I consider that it is a very high standard that will not only be difficult for the prosecution and the court, but perhaps even impossible. It rarely happens that these conditions are met, especially the possibility of disturbing the peace or riots and protests to file an indictment and then be declared guilty", he assessed.

Adelina Hasani is a security and foreign policy researcher, and she believes that institutions have shown a rigid approach to incitement of hatred, as she believes that they do not react seriously without causing visible consequences.

According to her, if cases are not taken seriously, then the possibility increases that incitement to hatred will realize its true potential by turning into violence.

"Unfortunately, we are noticing that hate speech is increasing, especially among young people, both in schools and in discussions we have had with teachers and psychologists. Hate speech is becoming normalized, and especially this hate speech that is linked to anti-gender narratives is becoming normalized. For example, girls are being targeted and the LGBTI community is being targeted, and this is a kind of narrative of creating masculinity, and here we see that it is being used on various platforms and especially girls and people from minority communities are being bullied, and this is easily turning into violent acts. If we see it in schools, these violent acts that are linked to the narrative and the normalization of hate speech have increased," said Hasani.

A report authored by Hasani points to far-right narratives emerging in Kosovo. According to her, the targets of hate speech are primarily women, minority communities, and the LGBTIQ+ community.

"The main target is minority groups. When we say minority groups are ethnic minorities, we have also seen that the LGBTI community is most often targeted and women are also targeted, and when I say women I am not saying it as a minority, but as a more marginalized group. These are the main targets that are made through extremist language, referring to anti-gender, ethno-nationalist and religious language. In a way, what we have tried to see but also identified is that these groups that do not have much power are targeted and through the creation of fear, they try to create a new discourse," stated Adelina Hasani, a security and foreign policy researcher.

It has been 17 years since Kosovo became a state and 26 since its liberation. Serbia disputes its independence, and this political context serves to provide foreign sponsorship for inflammatory language.

Hasani says that Serbia, and even Russia, often aim to undermine the coexistence of ethnic and religious groups in Kosovo.

"Although there was disinformation about the northern part, it is not what pushed Albanians to violent acts that attacked Serbs in the north and I think this shows a level of civic awareness, although the main goal of Serbia and Russia was to create fear and push them to violent acts, but it did not happen and I think that work should be done in this direction to increase civic awareness of what the intentions of the states that are not friends of Kosovo are," she assessed.

The consequences of political polarization

In 2023, Kosovo was hit by a terrorist attack in Banjska, carried out by dozens of Serbs, during which policeman Afrim Bunjaku was killed. In 2024, in the north, in the village of Varage, the Ibër Lepenci canal – vital infrastructure for citizens and the state – was attacked with explosives.

Hasani says that among the goals of Serbia and Russia is to deepen divisions in society.

"We have seen ethno-nationalist narratives mainly in the north of the country when an attack on a Basnjska took place or we have seen that there is a very large disinformation influence coming from Serbia, but also from Russia that is trying to create a kind of fear and trying to create inter-ethnic divisions. For example, in many media outlets that we have seen this hate speech and extremist language that is targeting Albanians, targeting the Government of Kosovo, trying to create fear that is fighting against the Serbian community in Kosovo."

The uncertainty that is produced not only in these circumstances, but also by political polarization, has consequences for society, says journalism professor Alban Zeneli. According to him, politicians have often had a negative impact in creating fertile ground for the division of society.

"I think that social polarization is one of the ways to gain more political supporters and consequently win more votes, but from a societal perspective, this is harmful due to the fact that social consensus is not reached on topics that are necessary for society. For example, there is consensus on very few things in Kosovo society. For very few things and for very few individuals. Even for the heroes of Kosovo there are discussions and this makes society not cohesive, it makes it constantly in conflict between social groups which undermine the possibility of progress and advancement of society," said Zeneli.

Instead, both Zeneli and Hasani recommend investing in education that fosters critical thinking about diversity and media literacy.

"If we look at it statistically, the spread of the internet in Kosovo is higher than in Germany, the use of social media is many times higher than the European average, and this means that we have an audience that lacks the necessary skills to use social media, but with long exposure to social media, and naturally this is one of the factors that influences the spread of hate speech," Zeneli underlined.

The lack of a social aspect, but also the fact that the past has not yet been addressed, according to Hasan, is pushing young people towards the extreme.  

"Normally there should be a more cognitive approach so that all actors see what their key role is in this problem, but the construction of school curricula and when we talk about diversity, we should really understand and internalize diversity. Because it is not diversity that has communities in Kosovo, but also the way we coexist and interact," Hasani emphasized.

Despite the decisions of the judicial bodies to punish those who incite hatred and division in Kosovo, the cases treated show an uneven and often lenient approach, especially when it comes to hate speech in online spaces or expressions supported by the justification of “freedom of expression”. The courts have set high standards for proving incitement to hatred, often making effective punishment impossible, while experts warn that failing to respond seriously to such cases only increases the likelihood that hatred will turn into real violence.