Fatmir Limaj

Fatmir Limaj (born 4 February 1971), is a Kosovar politician. He is the leader of Nisma Socialdemokrate. Limaj served as Minister of Transport and Telecommunication in the government of the Republic of Kosovo. He was known as "Çeliku" during the Yugoslav wars.

Biography Limaj was born in the village of Banje, in the municipality of Suva Reka, Kosovo, (then Yugoslavia). His family is alleged to descend from the Thaçi tribe (fis), a claim that was made by Hashim Thaçi, a member of the tribe and the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, during an interview on the Albanian show "Oxygen". During the 1999 Kosovo War, Limaj was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), in the Llapushnik area. He took part in the Battle of Llapusnik as a commander. His alias was Çeliku. After his indictment, which he was freed from in 2007 (see below), he returned to politics. From 2007 to 2010, he served as the Minister of Transport.

In the elections held in December 2010 he was third most voted leader in the whole country but he decided not to be part of the government. In 2014, he co-founded the Initiative for Kosovo Party (NISMA).

On 4 March 2003, he was sent to The Hague, and on 15 November 2004, the trial began. In November 2005, Limaj was acquitted by the ICTY.

Limaj was charged in another war crime case by European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) known as the "Klecka case". Prosecutors alleged that Limaj and others kept Serb and Albanian prisoners in a camp in the village of Klecka, subjecting them to inhumane conditions and beatings; seven Serbs and one Albanian was killed by subordinates under Limaj's command. The indictment was largely based on the diary of former KLA soldier Agim Zogaj who was one of the guards at the camp and subsequently committed suicide after repeated threats on his life. Limaj was acquitted in May 2012 along with three of his aides. The court found that Zogaj ("Witness X")'s diary and testimony was inadmissible. However, in November 2012, the Kosovo Supreme Court overruled the decision and ordered a re-trial. In May 2017, the Supreme Court acquitted him and the other defendants.

In 2018, Limaj was found not guilty of war crimes by an international court for failing to prevent the killing of two Albanians during the Kosovo War.