But Hetemi also thinks time offers a great advantage too, because the lengthy period that has elapsed since the 1998-99 war in Kosovo has created an emotional distance that allows people to accept the truth about what happened.

Speaking in his office in Pristina, Hetemi, a lecturer of political science at Kosovo’s main public university who worked for ten years for the United Nations Development Programme, said that he is determined that the institution he heads will shed light on the truth about crimes committed by the Serbian state during the war.

“We have an obligation to the victims and the generations whose lives were sacrificed,” he told BIRN.

Almost two months after he took up his job at the Institute, Hetemi said that there are many persuasive reasons why it will not fail or be shut down like its predecessor.

Back in 2011, the government set up a previous war crimes research institute as part of the Justice Ministry, to gather, process, classify and archive information about crimes committed during the Kosovo war.

However, the institute was accused of failing to fulfil its mandate, although it claimed that it was making progress despite serious underfunding. It was abolished in 2018 on the order of then Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.

“The current Institute is established by the law. It is an independent body, and it has clear objectives and a mission. It also has a special budget line. This makes me believe that it won’t share the fate of the previous body,” Hetemi said.

Almost 25 years after the war ended, at a point when much evidence has now disappeared and many witnesses have died, Hetemi acknowledged that “it is a bit late” for the new Institute to begin its activities.

“But it is a lucky misfortune that we have institutions, organisations and local and international media that during this time collected a huge number of documents related to the war,” he pointed out.

During their initial days on the job, Hetemi said that the Institute’s staff have finalised its operating regulations and designed its structure.

The Institute will have two main departments: Research and Documentation.

The Department for Research will consist of four divisions, focusing on crimes against humanity, economic crimes, crimes against cultural heritage and crimes against the environment. The Department of Documentation will also consist of four divisions, dealing with collection, verification, processing and archiving, both physical and digital.

“I think that the Institute will be a collection point for all existing documentation, be it from institutions, organisations or individuals, but also for additional material that will be collected,” Hetemi explained.

He said that the new Institute will also inherit what was already collected and archived by its predecessor.

“We won’t double up our activities with other organisations and institutions [involved in war crimes documentation and research], but will coordinate with them,” he added. “They have to deposit at least a copy of their material with the Institute.”

In its first year, the Institute plans to recruit 50 officials, with offices in six other Kosovo regions. The staff will be multi-ethnic, said Hetemi: “This team will determine the establishment of a solid foundation for the Institute.”

‘The war was evil for everyone’

The new Institute has yet to decide how to proceed with establishing a register of all the people who were killed during the Kosovo war.

Up until now, the main reference point for the number of victims has been the register created by the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre NGO. According to the HLC’s ‘Kosovo Memory Book’, documents confirm that over 13,500 people died or disappeared during and just after the war, from January 1998 to December 2000.

“A register and statistics are among the main elements where we will coordinate activities in order to have a more accurate outcome,” Hetemi said.

In 2021, Prime Minister Albin Kurti revived the idea of filing a genocide lawsuit against Serbia. The establishment of the Institute has been often mentioned as a factor that would aid the initiative to bring Belgrade before an international court, although experts have cautioned that this will prove very difficult.

Hetemi said that the Institute will serve to document the truth about the war and will work in “the service of justice”.

Asked about the potential genocide lawsuit against Serbia, he responded that “I don’t see our work detached from any other process”.

He argued that the Institute will provide credible documents that will also be of use to future generations. But he added that it would be better if Serbia allowed access to its wartime military and police documents, some of which have been classified as state secrets.

“The ideal would be for the state that committed these crimes, Serbia, to make it easier for us and allow their citizens in Serbia to use their military and police archives and not classify them,” he said,

The Institute for Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo will also document some of the crimes that were committed in the months following the end of the war and the withdrawal of the Yugoslav military and Serbian police forces from Kosovo in June 1999, when many Serbs fled their homes, fearing violent retribution.

“Based on the law, the Institute may research the period until December 2000, six months after the war in Kosovo ended,” Hetemi explained.

“After the suppression of Kosovo’s autonomy in March 1989, Kosovo Albanians lived for a decade under Serbia’s rule of repression. Crimes which occurred after June 1999 had revenge motives and were committed by individuals against certain community members. They were not organised.”

However, he insisted that “the Institute will not close its doors and eyes to crimes against other communities”.

“The main aim is to highlight that victims are at the centre of our work, to show that the war was evil for everyone,” he said.

“The mission of the Institute is not revenge or punishment but documentation, including finding of the perpetrators of the crimes.”