Ramush Harnsinaj has been First Minister of Kosovo until last Wednesday, when he resigned, to present himself as a citizen before the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague.

He is suspected of having committed war crimes as well as thirty other former commanders of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (ELK).

The crimes occurred during the war in Kosovo, between 1998 and 2000, the last of the confrontations of the so-called Balkan wars, which ended with the occupation of the territory by NATO forces and finally the self-proclaimed unilateral independence of the region from the Republic of Serbia, to create the state of Kosovo, not yet recognized by some EU countries.

The Kosovo war reportedly caused approximately 13,000 deaths, of which 3,000 (some 2,300 Serbian-Kosovars and 700 of the Roma minority) are attributed to the armed units of the ELK, led by Ramush Harnsinaj.

Several Serbian military officials have already been prosecuted and convicted for similar crimes, while it is the first time that the Special Court for Kosovo established in the International Court has dealt with the case.

The ELK confronted the Serbian Army during the conflict by propitiating intense bombing by NATO forces against the Serbian Army and facilitating the final occupation of the territory by ground forces of the Atlantic Alliance, who still remain in Kosovo as interposition forces in the border area with Serbia, where 15% of the population of Kosovo of Serbian and Roma origin is grouped.
Former Premier Harnsinaj is considered by the Albanian Kosovars as a "hero" of war.