On April 19, 1999 , at the place called Rrasa e Koshares, Sali Çekaj, a political-military activist for the liberation of Kosova, a fighter of the Kosova Liberation Army, a martyr, fell during the battle. He was born in the village of Broliq in Deçan. He completed high school in Deçan and higher Law studies at the University of Prishtina. In the years 1982-1990, he worked as a judge in the municipal court in Deçan, until he was fired by the Serbian authorities. Sali Çekaj was elected chairman of the Independent Lawyers’ Association in Deçan (1990). Due to his political and patriotic activity, in November 1990 he was forced to leave Kosova. He first settled in Albania, later in Germany and Switzerland, where he worked on the issue of the liberation of Kosova. In 1992, together with Adem Jashari, he formed the first self-defense units in Kosova. During the years 1995-1996, he participated actively in the guerilla actions against the Serbian forces in the Dukagjin Plain (in Deçan, Baballoq, Çakorr, etc.). In the spring of 1998, he enlisted in the Kosova Liberation Army, where he served as the commander of the 138th Brigade of the operational area of Dukagjin. Later, he engaged in supplying arms and increasing the ranks of the Kosova Liberation Army with young fighters, who came from the families of migrants in the West, and in their military training. (In the photo: Sali Çekaj)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 380.
Photo: © https://www.ballikombetar.info/
Graphic processing: AHCF
