
After the Hague verdict for the former KLA leaders, Jakup Krasniqi's wife, Sevdije Krasniqi, says that the family had hoped until the end for an acquittal.
"We had hoped that everyone would be declared innocent. We awaited the decision at home. The moment of the decision was shocking, we did not expect it. Who are those 4 people who are being sentenced?
They are the leaders of the KLA. History will not be poisoned by any decision. The KLA fought for freedom.
"This decision neither affects nor should it affect the life of Kosovo," she said in an interview with Top Channel journalist Kristi Gongo.
Sevdije Krasniqi says that the family will continue to wait for the appeal process and demands the release of the convicted.
"We demand their release, we will wait for the Appeal. I believe that now they will be based on the facts. It is now known that the joint criminal enterprise is the leadership of Serbia together with the judges of the Special Court who issued this decision," she said.
Speaking about her relationship with Jakup Krasniqi, she also tells how they met and how their love story began.
"A friend of mine proposed to me and said: 'It's worth waiting for Professor Jakupi.' I waited for him and, after he came out, we got together. I told Jakupi that I didn't come to you in prison then, but I will come to you in The Hague every month...", she says.
For his wife, the most difficult thing was Jakup Krasniqi's absence from important family moments.
"I experienced it very hard when we had joys at home that he couldn't experience," she says.
Sevdije Krasniqi says that the family was waiting for his return and that together they had made plans for life after The Hague.
"We were waiting for him at home, we had made plans. Jakupi and I had even said that we would both run away to live in a house in the village," the wife of the former head of the UÇk claimed.
She indicates that Jakup Krasniqi had expressed doubts about the process, referring to the manner of his arrest.
"Seeing how things went, he said: 'I don't really believe it, because it's a racist court,' from the way they arrested us, when he himself could have surrendered. So, an arrest like in the former Yugoslavia, even more severe," she said.
Following the decision, the family requests that all legal options be utilized and hopes for an appeal.
"We demand that all legal means be used to overturn this court. We are hoping for an appeal. This court should no longer have the right to deal with our fighters. We have faced genocide," she said.
Finally, Sevdije Krasniqi also shares the message she conveys to her husband during this difficult period.
"I tell Jakupi to stay strong, just as he is," she said.