A Smear Campaign Against Memory and Justice

A coordinated smear against a genocide survivor is not journalism, it is an assault on truth, democracy, and Kosovo’s sovereignty. Silence is complicity. Action is overdue.

In late May, a grotesque spectacle unfolded on Kosovo’s social media channels, one that has since reverberated far beyond the digital sphere and exposed, in full light, a systematic effort to undermine not only the moral fabric of the young republic, but its very claim to sovereignty and truth.

It began on 31 May, with a single post by Ilir Mirena, editor-in-chief of Periskopi, a news platform in Kosovo long alleged to operate as a conduit for the country’s most venal political forces — and, increasingly, for narratives sympathetic to Serbia’s enduring campaign of delegitimisation against the Kosovan state.

Mirena shared a screenshot of a cropped image of Kosovo’s acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti¹, seated solemnly on a green sofa. Without context, he appended a sneering caption: “He looks as though he eats nothing but stale bread, yet last year alone his office spent 112,000 euros on lunches and dinners. 😁” A throwaway line of political mockery? Hardly.

The image had been taken during …