Adem Demaçi

Political career After his release, he was appointed Chairman of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms of the People of Kosovo from 1991 to 1995, during the prewar period. He also served as editor-in-chief of Zëri, a magazine based in Pristina, from 1991 to 1993. In 1991, he was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Due to the Kosovar insurgency against the Yugoslav central state, Demaçi moved into politics in 1996, replacing Bajram Kosumi as President of the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo; Eventually, Demaçi agreed to withdraw his personal vision for a Balkan confederation, while the KLA abandoned its demand for the union of all the fragmented Albanian communities in the Balkans.

Though Demaçi's wife left Kosovo before the war, he remained in Pristina with his 70-year-old sister during the entire Kosovo War. He was critical of Ibrahim Rugova and other Albanian leaders who fled the conflict, stating that they were missing an important historical event. After the war, Demaçi served as director of the Committee for Understanding, Tolerance, and Co-habitation within the CDHRF. He visited almost every place where ethnic minorities were living in UN-administered Kosovo, encouraging them to stay, and calling on Albanians not to attack them. Demaçi served as director of Kosovo Radio and Television until January 2004. He remained active in politics, affiliated with Albin Kurti, head of the Vetëvendosje! political party.